A DRUG addict smashed a door and display window of a pharmacy after its proprietor refused to lend him any money.
Yesterday, transport worker Wong Mo-chuen, 24, was jailed for a total of 16 months after he pleaded guilty in the District Court to a count each of criminal damage and claiming to be a member of the Sun Yee On triad society.
Co-accused Chan Chun-tung, 28, was sent to a drug addiction treatment centre after he admitted a count of blackmail. Chan admitted demanding protection money of $3,000 from shop proprietor Ngan Ki-sang.
In mitigation for Wong, counsel Alan So said his client had damaged the shop on October 5, 1992, out of anger after Mr Ngan refused to lend him money.
He said Wong was not in fact a triad member, adding that he had made such a claim on November 29, 1992, only to give himself courage in an argument with Mr Ngan. Wong, who had six previous convictions, had been sent to a drug addiction treatment centre several times previously.
Jonathan Midgley, solicitor for Chan, urged the court to send his client to a drug addiction centre to help kick his drug habit.
