The Prisons Department is ready at any time to carry out the punishment meted out on part-time model Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarnor for drinking beer in July last year.

Deputy Home Minister Abu Seman Yusop said, however, that the punishment could only be executed after the department received the order from the Syariah Court.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno The department now has trained officers to carry out the whipping and was just waiting for the directive to do so, he told a news conference after a Prisons Management Course certificate presentation in Kajang today.

Kartika, 32, of Sungai Siput, Perak, was sentenced to RM5,000 fine and six strokes of the cane by the Kuantan Syariah High Court on July 20 after she pleaded guilty to consuming beer at the Cherating Bay Lounge, Hotel Legend, Cherating, on July 11 last year.

First woman to be whipped

However, on Aug 25, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein postponed the caning as the department did not have skilled and trained officers to carry out the punishment the syariah way.

Kartika, who is the first woman to be sentence to caning for the offence, has consented to the punishment and is waiting for it to be done after Aidilfitri.

A total of 208 deputy prison superintendents and inspectors who had completed the five-month Prisons Management Mid-Level Certificate course, received their scrolls at the ceremony.

- Bernama