A wheelchair-bound drug addict was allocated $50 from a court poor box yesterday after he told the magistrate he had no money to get home. Eastern Court magistrate Peter Line discharged Lam Chi-wah, 30, who admitted two charges of possessing apparatus used for injecting dangerous drugs. He ordered the money be given to Lam as the court could not arrange transport. Lam, unemployed, told the court he had not received public assistance since his arrest in July. 'I didn't bring money with me because I expected I would be sent back to the hospital in a police car,' he said. 'Can Your Worship arrange a police car to take me back to my place?' The duty lawyer later asked for $100 but Mr Line ruled $50 would be enough to get Lam back to a care home in Chai Wan. Every year $8,000 is allocated to a central box shared by the 10 magistracies in Hong Kong. Magistrates have the discretion to give money to assist needy people who appear in court. The court heard Lam lost his legs this year because of his long-term drug use. Mr Line said Lam had paid the cost of taking drugs and ruled a conditional discharge for 12 months would be an appropriate sentence. The court heard a doctor had seen Lam holding a syringe in a toilet at Eastern Hospital in May. The syringe was found to contain traces of midazolam. In July, a nurse saw him in the same toilet with two syringes, which contained heroin, the court heard. Lam has nine previous convictions, three of them related to drugs.
