A HAWKER claimed yesterday he did not show up for his trial last year because he had been grabbed by Chinese police at the border and detained for eight months.
Cheung Chi-hung, 36, contended he did not voluntarily leave Hongkong and, until he had been ''unceremoniously dumped back on the Hongkong police'', had been unable to contact anyone.
He was deported from China in January and subsequently pleaded guilty before a magistrate to a charge of possession of dangerous drugs for trafficking and was committed to the High Court for sentence.
Imposing an eight-year jail term, Deputy Judge Pang said Cheung, as a drug addict, should have known the serious consequences of assisting someone to store drugs.
However, he noted that Cheung's right arm had become permanently disabled seven years earlier and life had not been fair to him.
He also accepted the non-appearance at the trial was not his fault.
