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Cliff Buddle

An 'immature' youth whose brother's involvement with drug dealing contributed to their father's death was jailed for seven years yesterday after committing similar crimes.

   Ma Wing-shun, 21, had failed to learn a lesson from his brother's experience, Judge Duncan Kilgour said.

   Prosecutor Agnes Chan said the karaoke captain was arrested in January and found to be in possession of 23 grams of heroin which he claimed was for his own use.

  Ma was released on bail, but arrested again in March with 27 grams of heroin in a cigarette box.

  This time, he admitted he was working for drug traffickers and police found a further 109 grams of the drug at his home in Mongkok.

  Richard Wong, defending, said the background to the case was tragic.

  His elder brother had been sentenced for drug dealing when Ma was only a child.

  Their father died when Ma was nine. Mr Wong said: 'The father was unable to bear this unfortunate incident.'   Ma's mother, who watched from the public gallery as he was jailed, had worked hard to provide for her children.

  The young boy was looked after by his three sisters, but ultimately followed in his brother's footsteps and became involved with drug dealers.

  In 1992, one of them gave him a packet of drugs which he took home.

  Mr Wong said Ma's mother found the drugs.

  'She was furious and flushed them down the toilet,' he told the judge.

  This left Ma in debt to the drug dealer.

  The situation was made worse this year when the same dealer trusted him with another packet of drugs. Ma was arrested and the drugs seized.

  When released on bail, he had no option but to help the trafficker by delivering drugs in order to pay him back for the heroin which had been lost, the court heard.

  Mr Wong said Ma was immature and unable to handle his problems.

  He pleaded guilty at the High Court to two trafficking charges and one of possession.

  Judge Kilgour said it was terrible that a 21-year-old found himself facing what could have been a sentence of 15 or 16 years.

   He took into account his age, plea of guilty and mitigation.



Youth follows brother to jail for trafficking