Man who called in a bomb hoax to stop his wife flying from Hong Kong to South Africa gets community service
Retired Maadd Kikabhoy was ‘desperate and miserable’ at the time and learned his lesson, judge says
A man who drunkenly tried to stop his wife going to South Africa by calling police and telling them there was a bomb on the plane was spared jail by the Eastern Court yesterday
Retired Maadd Kikabhoy, 64, was given 120 hours of community service after admitting one count of communicating false information as to the existence of bomb last month.
Magistrate June Cheung Tin-ngan said the offence was very serious. “Because of your foolish act, you have caused grave inconvenience to the public,” she said. “But I accept that you’ve learned your hard lesson.”
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In the early hours of March 22, after drinking in Wan Chai, Kikabhoy called police from a phone booth on Hennessy Road. He said in Cantonese: “South Africa 287 has a bomb”.
A police officer sent to check the phone booth said Kikabhoy acted suspiciously as he observed from a distance and noted that he wiped the keypad with a tissue.
After being arrested, Kikabhoy admitted under caution that he made the call because he missed his wife, who was on board a South African Airways flight bound for Johannesburg at the time. The flight, in the end, was not affected.
His lawyer Jeffrey Li told the magistrate: “He’s committed the offence out of a momentary lapse of rational thinking.”