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SCMP Reporter

TWO Filipinos were jailed yesterday for pickpocketing and breaching deportation orders, after the magistrate dismissed their evidence as 'absolute nonsense'.

 Rodolfo Villota, 44, and Marilou Estrada, 41, were jailed for 27 months each after admitting both charges.

 Eastern Court magistrate Kevin Browne disputed claims by their lawyer Justin Wang Kwok-wah they came on a 'purchasing' trip.

 'I found that absolute nonsense. I don't believe a word of it. You are professional pickpockets,' he said.

 Mr Wang said both defendants were single-parents who came to the SAR to earn money for their young children in the Philippines.

 The lawyer said Villota's wife deserted him and their seven children 10 years ago and needed to save money for food and school fees.

 Estrada's husband died in 1991, leaving her to care for four young girls, he said.

 The court heard the pair met in a hostel here and committed the offence out of greed. Prosecutor Vincent Tsoi Ming-shing said they teamed up last Sunday to steal $1,360 from a 63-year-old man in Causeway Bay but were caught.



Pickpocketers jailed