A burglary victim found his stolen computer on a second-hand market stall while shopping to replace it. Burglar Lui Bing-ching, 30, was arrested after the stall-holder told the police where he had obtained the computer, the District Court was told. Judge Peter Longley yesterday jailed Lui for three years. Lui had admitted 14 charges of burglary. The burglaries, at 14 offices in Wan Chai and North Point, took place between February 1996 and July this year. Lui stole computers worth more than $1.3 million during the period. Prosecutor Vivien Chan Man-wai said Lui, a former computer programmer, had used magnets to disable digital locks at the offices. He looted large quantities of computers and accessories which he then sold to second-hand dealers. Christopher Knight, defending, said Lui had been driven to crime because he needed money to set up a business. In sentencing, Judge Longley said the victims had not only suffered the loss of their equipment but also the data stored inside. 'Your motive can only be greed,' the judge said. He adopted a starting point of 4.5 years, reducing it by one-third for Lui's guilty plea.
