A model accused of stealing eight items of underwear could have committed the offence absent-mindedly, a magistrate was told yesterday.
Dr David Tsai, psychiatrist to Cara Roberta Chan, said the model was abusing a sleeping pill which may have made her fail to register certain actions.
'When she was around the merchandise, she might have committed some offence beyond her registration, and subsequently beyond her recollection,' the psychiatrist said.
The model is accused of shoplifting at the Marks & Spencer department store in Times Square on June 1.
She was apprehended outside with the garments, worth $714, in her bag.
Eastern Court heard the 23-year-old model had been suffering from insomnia for years and her absent-mindedness was a side effect of the sleeping drug which she had been abusing and taking for months.