Prison term for having stun-gun
A HAIRDRESSER has been jailed for six months for possessing a stun-gun.
In the District Court, Yip Wai-choi, 25, pleaded guilty to possessing arms without a licence. The weapon was found during a police raid on Yip's Lam Tin flat on October 16, last year.
His co-defendant, Lam Yuk-ming, 23, also a hairdresser, had earlier been acquitted after the prosecution offered no evidence against him on a similar charge.
David MacKenzie-Ross, counsel for Yip, said his client, who had shown remorse by his plea of guilty, had strong support from his family.
The strict attitude of Yip's family towards him could be illustrated by the fact that his mother had told police three years earlier that he possessed some cannabis, counsel said.
Yip had learned from that experience and on this occasion the stun-gun had been given to him for repair by another man, counsel submitted.
It had been Yip's intention to return it to the owner.
In sentencing, Deputy Judge Tallentire said there was neither evidence that the gun was capable of being repaired nor that Yip could repair it.
He accepted that Yip had no intention of using the gun and had been co-operativewith the police.
However, he said the stun-gun could become a weapon for committing crimes if it fell into the wrong hands.
Prosecuting counsel Lui Kit-ling said the stun-gun was examined by police and found to be a portable device designed or adapted to stun or disable a person by means of an electric shock.
Police also found that the stun-gun was in an unserviceable and non-operational state.
