Sunday, June 18, 1972
The boy is the third child in a working-class family of nine.
The father's earnings as a barber, and the mother's in a paper factory, are
supplemented by wages brought home by other working members of the
family, with the result that there has been, for some time now, sufficient
money for a fairly decent living in two resettlement units converted
into one.
The boy was sent to school at about eight, but family members
were so engrossed in their own affairs that it was scarcely noticed how
often he played truant,
The first shock arrived when he was dismissed from Primary V,
and the second came when it was realised that he had cultivated disreputable
company. He was introduced to a job as an apprentice welder by an elder
brother, at $17 a day, but he was so far gone in extravagance and drugs
that this money was not enough.
Money
He later told the probation officer that at this time he needed $12
a day for opium alone, Absence of money, added to a growing need for the
drug, brought along a crisis at the factory, and he was fired. This in turn
made his family turn against him, and eventually he stole from his father,
and ran away, giving the "old man" a grudge against him.
Life became for the boy a one-night stand with friends, with pick-
pocketing the only source of income. Eventually he was arrested and brought
before the court. The probation officer recommended treatment at Shek Kru
Chau, but as the boy did not show signs of drug dependence during the
remand period, he was placed on probation for one year instead.
/He could