- Wong Kwai-che, 68, admitted to picking up six boxes of masks left behind by an unknown person inside a public toilet in Wan Chai on Sunday afternoon
- He said he had been in financial difficulties and relying on government allowance after his news stand was shut down due to the pandemic
A Hong Kong newspaper vendor who became jobless following the coronavirus pandemic was on Monday jailed for two weeks for stealing 300 surgical masks.
Homeless man Wong Kwai-che, 68, admitted to picking up six boxes of masks left behind by an unknown person inside a public toilet in Wan Chai on Sunday afternoon. He was arrested that day after police officers intercepted him for behaving suspiciously.
Prosecutors told Kwun Tong Court on Monday this was the third theft in a month committed by the defendant, who was fined in the previous two convictions. Details of the two other cases were not elaborated in the court.
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Wong said in mitigation he had been in financial difficulties and relying on government allowance for a living, after his news stand was shut down due to the pandemic.
But acting principal magistrate Ivy Chui Yee-mei said the defendant had not learned his lessons after avoiding jail in his previous court appearances.
"A fine has clearly failed to deter him from committing further offences," Chui said. She set a starting point of three weeks in prison but granted the defendant a one-third discount to credit his guilty plea.
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The public health crisis, in which at least 641 people were infected in Hong Kong and four died as of Monday afternoon, has led to panic buying of protective gear and daily commodities, and a rise in related crimes.
The first mask theft case since the outbreak was heard on February 17, when a 35-year-old Indonesian domestic helper, Masriki, received four weeks in prison over stealing 5,500 masks by pretending to be their rightful buyer in a Causeway Bay shop.
Earlier this month, 47-year-old unemployed man Lam Chi-wai was handed two weeks in jail after he stole five bottles of alcoholic disinfectant in Tsuen Wan on March 14.
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