New | Couple in car robbed by knife-wielding muggers in country park
Woman robbed of watch and handbag after driver struggles with attackers
A couple was robbed by two knife-wielding muggers at a country park in Sha Tin last night.
The robbers jumped from the bushes and smashed the right front window of the car as the driver, 51, and a woman, 46, sat inside the parked vehicle, police say.
After vain attempts to drive off and a brief struggle, the man ran away for help, leaving the woman behind, police say.
She was robbed of a watch and a handbag containing a mobile phone and wallet valued at HK$7,600.
The couple’s ordeal began about 11pm after the couple pulled over at quiet area near the rifle range off Golden Hill Road in Kam Shan Country Park.
After the robbers smashed the car window “the motorist drove off but rammed the railings in front”, a police officer said. “He then drove backward but reversed into a hillside.”
The officer said after the rear wheels got trapped in a ditch the driver jumped out of the car and wrestled with the two robbers, while the woman stayed inside the vehicle. After a brief struggle he managed to run off and called police about 11.20pm.
The woman, who had left the scene of the incident before police arrived, called police at 11.45pm, after she had walked about 2km to Shek Lei Estate in Kwai Chung.
The man was treated for hand injuries at Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin while the woman was treated for shock in Princess Margaret Hospital in Kwai Chung.
Police found a knife, which was broken in two pieces, inside the car. They say the two robbers, who may be illegal immigrants from the mainland, are thought to be aged between 30 and 40 and both are about 1.7 metres tall.
The number of robberies in Hong Kong has gone down since 2006. Reports of hold-up fell 18.8 per cent to 500 last year from 616 in 2012. There were 731 cases in 2011, 778 in 2010 and 872 in 2009.
Police figures show there were 1,574 reports of robbery in 2006, 1,216 in 2007 and 1,100 in 2008.
