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SCMP Reporter

A YOUNG man's ''fatal attraction'' to cars cost him his right eye and the lives of two of his friends, the District Court heard.

  Yesterday, Tam Yau-kei's fascination with cars also cost him his freedom.

  Tam, 20, was convicted, along with three others, of conspiring to steal Mercedes-Benzes.

   He was sentenced to a training centre and fined $2,000 for resisting arrest.

  Mike Delaney said in mitigation that Tam had been wounded emotionally, as well as physically, in a car crash that killed two people and took his right eye.

  Mo Wai-ki, 24, Wee Chi-kin, 18, and Cheng Chun-keung, 24, were also convicted of conspiracy.

  All of the men had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

  Deputy Judge Candy said he had considered Wee's ''unfortunate life'' before sentencing him to a training centre. Wee's mother had abandoned the family, and his father turned Wee over to his grandfather's care.

  The two older men were dealt prison sentences: Mo received 31/2 years, Cheng four years.

  Before passing sentence on Tam, Deputy Judge Candy said that ''his attraction to motor cars and the driving of motor cars has proved to be a fatal attraction''.

  It was the Crown's case that in May 1992 a man named Sze Ngan-keung asked Mo to help him look for Mercedes-Benz cars.

  On June 2, 1992, it was arranged for Tam and two other men to meet in the early hours and search Hong Kong island for Mercedes-Benzes, the court was told.

  After not finding any, the three went to Tsuen Wan and stole a Honda.

 Later, Tam and another man stole two Mercedes-Benzes and took them to Tai Po, where they were to be delivered to Mo.

  Aware of the plan, Wee and Cheng drove to Tai Po to help deliver the stolen cars.

      At about 5 am police - who had been watching the meeting place - moved in and arrested the men as they pulled up in the stolen cars.



Fascination with cars costs freedom