A beautician accused of swindling an elderly woman out of $33 million said yesterday that she received a gift of $18 million after giving the woman up to $1 million in free beauty products.
Bevan Ho Chor-man told the Court of First Instance she had sought to please widow Ho Yin-yuk, 77, by spending time with her and giving her gifts of cosmetics over a two-year period.
She also said the elderly woman bought her four-year-old son a $4 million flat as a birthday present.
Ho Yin-yuk has claimed she was swindled out of her entire fortune by Bevan Ho and her husband, Lam Ka-lok, a director of property chain Ricacorp, between August 1995 and April 1998. She is seeking $18.07 million from the couple.
The widow said she was only seeking that amount because it was the sum specified on a single cheque to them. She said other cheques were made out, but to cash.
Ho Yin-yuk became friends with Bevan Ho, her beauty therapist, in mid-1994 when she began frequenting the Chi Man Beauty Parlour in Tsim Sha Tsui.
The widow claimed she gave Bevan Ho blank cheques for beauty products from a 'foreign lady' because she was illiterate and uneducated.