Getting caught by the police with weed isn’t any teenager’s best moment.
But 19-year-old Sheryl Teresa Deakin meant it when she told officers “I don’t want my mom to know” after being caught allegedly with two bags of marijuana last year.
The teenager today appeared at Fanling Magistrates Court yesterday charged with one count of possessing a dangerous drug.
Her parents — former high ranking police officers Tony Deakin and Evelyn Lam Man-sai — were in court with her as well.
Ming Pao reports that the defendant was arrested in Sheung Shui in July last year after she was spotted acting suspiciously and holding a black handbag and scissors. Spotting the two police officers, she ran and police gave chase.
During the police pursuit on foot, Deakin tripped outside a Circle K convenience store, and police took the handbag where they allegedly found two bags of weed weighing 4.9 and 3.8 grams. A small pill bottle containing cannabis was also in the bag, the court heard.
Giving evidence yesterday, Yu Ming-yee — one of the police officers who arrested Deakin — said when they apprehended her, she started crying and said in Cantonese: “I don’t want mom to know.”
When probed about what was in the bag and how she got hold of it, she cried in English: “My friend gave me an hour ago.”
As she was taken to the police station, she mentioned that her parents are former civil servants, and said in Cantonese that she lives in Constellation Cove in Tai Po.
According to Apple Daily, the defense lawyer alleged that a sergeant questioning Deakin reportedly yelled in Cantonese at the defendant, and asked her if her dad is Tony Deakin, to which she replied in English: “Please stop yelling at me, you are hurting me, I am afraid of you.” Yu said he did not agree with this account.
The court heard that when presented with a written statement to sign, Deakin admitted to Yu she can’t read Chinese, but she understood spoken Cantonese. A translated copy of the statement was provided, but she instead signed: “I do not agree with the record of accounts above.”
The defendant’s father is a former senior superintendent, while her mother is a former chief superintendent who was given a police medal for meritorious service in the 2015 honours list.
HK01 also included in their court report photographs of Lam in police uniform, one of which features her standing behind Prince Charles, and another of her receiving a Governor’s Commendation award from the city’s then governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten.
The trial is continuing.
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