A BLACKMAILER who made a new life in Taiwan with his own business while on the run for six years was given a suspended 27-month sentence in the District Court yesterday.
Kong Wing-fung, 44, fled to Taiwan in July 1989 when he was due to be tried for blackmail.
He then married a Taiwanese woman and started a food store there. Kong, now a father of two, was brought back to Hong Kong by Interpol last December.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of blackmail before Deputy Judge Wright this month.
Prosecutor John Marray told the court Kong blackmailed a China trading company's proprietor, Wong Chui-po, for $50,000 on March 15, 1989. He threatened to disfigure the woman if she did not leave the money in a litter bin in front of the Jockey Club in Hankow Road, Tsim Sha Tsui.
However, Kong did not turn up to collect the money. On June 12, after a police investigation, Kong and his two younger brothers were arrested at their Ngau Tau Kok home. The brothers were not charged.