A SELF-CONFESSED thief who pleaded with a judge not to send him to prison because it would only make him worse was jailed for 18 months yesterday.
Ng Kan-lang, 46, a Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club shroff who stole $80,000 from his employers, said it would be better for society if sentences encouraging rehabilitation and reform were imposed for those who were not hardened criminals.
Ng defended himself and handed his written mitigation to Deputy Judge Davies in the District Court.
He said: 'Prison tends to make one more criminally inclined than before one went in. I am not a criminal by choice or nature.' Ng told the judge he had only committed the theft because loansharks were threatening him.
Prosecutor Winston Chan said Ng issued 10 cash vouchers, each for $10,000, without authority while working for the Jockey Club in Jaffe Road, Wan Chai, on September 19, 1993.
A cashier found a discrepancy of $120,000 relating to Ng's dealings that day.
