A high-ranking civil servant whose $100,000-a-month job was in jeopardy after he was caught shoplifting a compact disc had his conviction quashed yesterday when his barrister argued the magistrate had treated his anxiety disorder as 'irrelevant'.
Lam Cheuk-fung, 38, a senior environmental protection officer, was found guilty of theft and fined by Magistrate Henry Mierczak in July last year for stealing the Best of Air Supply CD from a HMV outlet in Causeway Bay.
Yesterday, Mr Lam's counsel Andrew Macrae SC told Mr Justice Colin Jackson in the Court of First Instance the magistrate had erred in disregarding testimony from his client's psychiatrist.
'It is one thing to reject the medical evidence, as a tribunal of fact is entitled to do, but it is another to disregard it completely as irrelevant and thereby leave it out of a proper evaluation of the evidence,' Mr Macrae said.
The court heard a store detective had trailed Mr Lam after he saw him remove the anti-theft plastic sheet from the CD.
Mr Macrae said the police officer who was called to the store had told the original hearing that his client was 'crying, and appeared confused'.
