A recovering drug addict has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison, after robbing a young girl who he threatened with a syringe full of “AIDS-tainted blood”.
Zhou Zexin, 37, stole 400 yuan and HKD200 from the victim in a pedestrian tunnel near the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Sha Tin, on May 28, threatening the girl with a cutter and a syringe he claimed contained HIV-tainted blood.
The defence tried to argue that Zhou was carrying a cutter as he was employed by a home improvement company at the time, but the judge threw out this argument.
It later transpired that the fluid in the syringe was Zhou’s own blood, which contained no traces of the HIV virus.
Zhou moved to Hong Kong from the mainland in 2012, but relapsed into his drug habit after encountering financial difficulties and problems with his marriage.
The court heard that the 37-year-old was under the influence of heroin at the time and committed the offence after fighting with his wife.
The judge, however, felt that Zhou had intended to terrify his victim, and said that his behaviour warranted a harsh punishment as he had caused additional stress to the girl, RTHK reports (as sourced from EJI).
Apparently, threatening people with syringes containing AIDS-tainted blood is a common street scam in Shenzhen… so let’s not ever go there.
