IIs jailed for knifepoint robbery at couple's flat

FOUR illegal immigrants who broke into a British couple's flat and robbed them at knifepoint were put behind bars by a District Court judge yesterday.

Judge Bailey jailed Yeung Man, 24, and Lau Kwai-wai, 22, for 51/2 years. Lau Chung-wah, 16, and Wong Tung, 17, were jailed for 41/2 years. All four had pleaded guilty to robbery and of illegally remaining in Hong Kong.

The judge said they had committed a serious robbery and could have received the maximum penalty of seven years.

Their clean records and young ages carried little mitigating weight.

However, the judge said that he could not send the two teenagers to a training centre, as he would with other Hong Kong youngsters, because of their status.

'As an act of mercy, I will reduce their sentences to reflect the fact that sentencing options available to young Hong Kong people of clear record are not available to them,' he told the court.