Drug case man fears for his teenage son
A NEWSPAPER seller facing a long jail term for a heroin offence told the High Court he was concerned his teenage son might fall into bad company while he was in prison.
Choi Chor-chuen, 39, pleaded guilty to possession of 324 grams of a mixture containing 172 grams of salts of esters of morphine on April 22 last year.
In mitigation, he told Deputy Judge Gould he had a 16-year-old son, who was a waiter, and two daughters still at school.
He was worried his wife might not be able to look after them all because of her work. He was especially concerned his son might mix with bad elements.
The judge said he was pleased to hear of Choi's concern for his son and advised him to tell his wife to seek help from social services.
The judge took a starting point of 11 years and reduced it to 71/2 years for his plea and remorse.
The court was told the defendant was stopped and searched and found to have the heroin in his waist bag.
