A Filipina maid in Singapore was sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing and dismembering a friend who was also a maid, a newspaper reported yesterday.
Guen Garlejo Aguilar, 29, faced life imprisonment after pleading guilty earlier this month to strangling her compatriot, Jane Parangan La Puebla, 26, on Sept. 7 last year in a fight over an unpaid debt.
Supreme Court Justice VK Rajah ruled that a life sentence would have been "clearly inappropriate," because Aguilar appeared to have recovered from depression, the Straits Times newspaper said.
It quoted Rajah as saying that counseling and family support could reduce the risk of Aguilar committing more crimes.
He said the mayor of her Philippine hometown had given "concrete assurances that she will receive the necessary support and supervision" when she is released, the newspaper said.
Prosecutors had reduced the charge against Aguilar from murder to culpable homicide, meaning she no longer faced Singapore's mandatory death sentence for murder.
The Straits Times said that the charges were reduced after Aguilar was found to be mentally unstable at the time of the killing.
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