A young father who held his three year-old daughte

A young father who held his three year-old daughter’s hand on
a fire to ‘teach her a lesson’, was jailed for nine months at
Isleworth Crown Court today (Thursday).

The back of the child’s hand was so badly burned that it later
needed skin-grafting, said Mr Nicholas Campbell, prosecuting.

And a
doctor told the court it must have been held against the gas fire for
‘at least five seconds’ to produce such an injury.

Darshan Singh Dhillon, 24, of Hillary Rd, Southall, denied
causing Sukhwinder grievous bodily harm and a charge of child cruelty.

He was acquitted on the first charge but found guilty by the jury of
child cruelty.

He was left in charge of his two daughters aged five and three
on the afternoon of April 16 and when his wife returned to their home
she found little Sukhwinder ‘nursing a bandaged hand’, said counsel.

Mrs Marjit Dhillon, who gave evidence against her husband,
merely put baby lotion on the injury.

It was not until it was spotted
by staff at the ante-natal clinic she attended two days later, that
the seriousness of the injury was appreciated.

The child was later transferred to the Burns Unit at Mount
Vernon Hospital where she had surgery for skin-grafting, said counsel.

Dhillon was arrested and told officers Sukhwinder was playing
too near the fire.

‘So I put her hand there quickly to show her it
was hot and to teach her a lesson’, he said.

Jailing him, Judge George Bathurst-Norman said: ‘How anyone
could have held a child’s hand against that fire for a minimum of five
seconds, defies my understanding.

I can only assume you lost all
control of yourself’.

ends

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Isleworth Crown Court Sept 18 86 jd
heroin-shirasi.

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A drug smuggler who underwent a change of heart may well be
wondering if honesty is the best policy after his appearance at
Isleworth Crown Court today (Thursday).

Miramad Sadat-Shirasi, 33, Montreal cab-driver,
successfully brought 50 grammes of heroin and a small quantity of
opium through Heathrow Airport’s customs in his shoes, on his return
from a visit to India earlier this year, said Mr John Greaves,
prosecuting.

‘But then he suffered a crisis of conscience’, said counsel.

He flushed the heroin down the lavatory.

Had he then got on a plane to his pregnant girl-friend in
Canada, no one would have been any the wiser and the inexorable wheels
of the British legal system would not have started rolling and would
not have left him as he is now, languising in a prison cell while
various immigration authorities decide what to do with him.

But not only did he want nothing further to do with ‘this
filthy trade’ he wanted to help put a stop to it, said counsel.

On July 4 he turned up at the Canadian High Commission, told a
Royal Mounted Policeman what he had done and was promptly arrested by
arrangement with British Customs.

‘He told them he had flushed the 50 grammes of heroin down the
toilet but he still had a small amount of opium at his mother’s home
in Cromwell Rd, and this he handed over’, said Mr Greaves.

He further told customs officers he had planned to sell the
heroin and, with the profits, return to India where he bought it, and
bring in a larger amount.

He was prepared to fly back to India to
help customs catch others involved.

‘This is a most unusual case because the only information
comes entirely from the defendant,’ concluded Mr Greaves.

Shirasi, an Iranian permanently resident in Canada, who had
been in custody since his arrest, pleaded guilty to two charges of
illegally importing the heroin and opium.

Then began a day of argument
about in status as far as the immigration authorities were concerned.

Judge Suzanne Norwood decided his presence in this country was
of no benefit since he had no means of support and few connections and
wanted to recommend him for deportation.

But his counsel, Mr Robin Griffiths, said such a
recommendation might send him back to Iran if Canada decided it did
not want him.

He left Iran during the revolution and had no wish to
return.

Finally an immigration officer arrived and hinted broadly that
the recommendation was unimportant as he could probably be sent back
to Canada as an illegal immigrant.

Satisfied that that was the probable outcome, Judge Norwood
sentenced him to two years, 16 months of it suspended which should
result in almost immediate release, and recommended him for
deportation.

But she was at pains to point out that this was ‘a unique
case’.

‘This is such an unusual sentence in a case where Class A
drugs have been imported that I ought to make things clear,’ she said.

‘This offence would normally attract a sentence of up to seven
years in prison, but the circumstances are wholly exceptional.

His
behaviour, in my experience, is quite unique’.

ends

that’s it, bye
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