Three teens sentenced for robbing home of HK$500,000
Three teenagers who stole more than HK$500,000 in savings and lai see packets, after breaking into the home of a former classmate, were sentenced yesterday.
Two boys, aged 13 and 15, and Ho King-sun, 17, who have all left school, were earlier convicted in District Court on one count of burglary each for breaking into the home of a friend of the 13-year-old, at Kwong Fuk Estate, Tai Po, on March 7. They had pleaded guilty.
Judge Stanley Chan Kwong-chi yesterday placed the 13-year-old on two years' probation, sent the 15-year-old to a detention centre and Ho to a rehabilitation centre. The 15-year-old and his family cried as the court heard his mitigation statement, and all three expressed remorse.
The trio broke into the home of a 13-year-old friend of the youngest accomplice, shared with his mother, a housewife named Mrs Chan, and took HK$500,300, 20 lai see packets containing a total of HK$300 in cash, two Octopus cards and other items.
They broke in at about 10am that day, with the 15-year-old kicking open the door and Ho standing watch while the other two burgled the flat.
After the burglary was discovered, Ms Chan reported it to police once she had verified that her son had not taken the money.
The youngest member of the trio learned about the money, stored in a closet, when he and his friend were playing together one day in 2007. Ms Chan found HK$80,000 of her savings missing several days later, but did not report the matter to police. After graduating from primary school last summer, the boys did not contact each other again until this February, when the 13-year-old defendant asked his friend to lend him money, but was rejected.
Police recovered HK$442,000 of the stolen money. With the cash, they found bags belonging to the burgled mother and son.
When police arrested him, the 15-year-old admitted he had used some of the cash to buy a mobile phone, a wallet and some food.
While in custody, one of the teens admitted they had put on gloves before breaking into the flat. Police did not find their fingerprints in the home.
The young defendants promised to turn over a new leaf yesterday as their lawyers pleaded for light sentences. The 13-year-old said his parents had never demanded he become a super achiever, and felt he had let them down, he told the court.
Ho pleaded for a short sentence so he could take care of his father and 12-year-old sister.
