Pill-taking anorexic guilty of papaya theft
An anorexic woman on anti-depressant drugs with a history of shoplifting food was found guilty of stealing two papayas.
To Yee-kuen, 38, who weighs only 35 kilograms, has been receiving psychiatric treatment since March 1993.
She denied walking out of a Wellcome supermarket in Causeway Bay on January 8 with the papayas, worth a total of $70, claiming she had paid for them in another shop.
Her psychiatrist, Dr Ng, told Eastern Court that To had been taking a combination of anti-depressant drugs and flu tablets.
The combination could cause sedation, he said, and in a patient so malnourished might result in coma or epilepsy.
To, unemployed, had $1,700 on her when she was stopped. She receives financial support from her parents and siblings who are all in the United States.
To has 12 previous convictions for stealing food and was imprisoned for 21 days on the last occasion.
The court heard how her condition had worsened in prison to the point when her teeth began to fall out.
Magistrate Robert McNair said: 'Imprisonment is not good for her. She is in need of psychiatric and emotional assistance but she cannot use her medical condition to continue stealing.' Supermarket assistant Hui Yan-ping told the court she saw To remove two papayas from a shelf, put them into a paper bag and leave the store without paying for them.
To was intercepted outside the shop and charged with theft two days later.
Sentencing was adjourned until March 25 pending a probation report.
