HONG KONG: Canto-pop singer Jill Vidal's nightmare in Japan is almost over but it didn't end before she was handed a two-year jail sentence for possession of heroin in a Tokyo courtroom yesterday. Vidal pleaded guilty to the charge. Her sentence was suspended for three years.

The 27-year-old British passport holder, popularly known as Wei Si, spent 60 days in detention before Friday's court appearance. She admitted in court to bringing 1.836g heroin into Japan from Hong Kong February 23.

She was arrested in the company of traveling partner, singer Kelvin Kwan Chor-yiu, not for suspicion of drugs but because a shop keeper believed he saw the pair shoplifting on the day after their arrival in Japan, in Tokyo's Shibuya district.

Police seized a cannabis cigarette in Kwan's possession. Later they found 11 packages of heroin in Vidal's hotel room. Only she was charged under Japan's Narcotics and Psychotropic Control Law. Kwan was released without charge and returned to Hong Kong on March 28.

The hearing began Friday at around 1:30 pm. Vidal confessed the drugs were hers when she was shown them by the court.

The singer said she bought 16 packages of heroin through a friend in Hong Kong and paid directly into a bank account through an automated teller machine on February 19. She said she consumed the contents of five of the packages and took the rest with her to Tokyo.

Vidal told the court she started taking the drug last April and since then had used it over a hundred times, owing to stress from work. She said her twin sister Janice Vidal had persuaded her to quit.

The accused said she kicked the habit during her two-month detention and pledged to stay away from it in future.

Vidal added the past two months were "horrible" and she intended never to experience anything similar again. She apologized before the court to people in Hong Kong and Japan.

After about 90 minutes, the judge said the drugs were for Vidal's personal use and that she was a first-time offender. He noted her remorse over the crime, sentenced her two years in jail, suspended for three years.

She will return to Hong Kong Saturday. Amusic had earlier asserted it would terminate Vidal's contract if she were proven guilty.

Though Vidal confessed to bringing the heroin from Hong Kong, she may escape being charged by Hong Kong police.

Barrister Kevin Tang said Vidal's testimony could only be corroborating evidence if the police accuse her.

"The two judiciary systems are different and Hong Kong cannot take Vidal's oral testimony as direct evidence," Tang said.

Local police may be required to gather the proof from Japan to mount a case that Vidal carried the drugs from Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Police did not respond to messages asking whether Vidal would be charged here.

(HK Edition 04/25/2009 page4)