Wannabe gangsters a danger to themselves

Judging by a few recent cases, it seems the quality of our robbers has significantly declined like everything else in Hong Kong. Forget about master criminals such as Yip 'AK-47' Kai-foon and 'Big Spender' Cheung Tze-keung. They are an extinct species. Now we have hapless amateurs along the lines of Leung Shing.

Leung, 40, was jailed for 56 months at the High Court on Thursday after he managed to cut himself with a knife and leave his ID card behind in two separate robberies last Christmas - allowing police to find and arrest him in record time.

During what he claims was his first robbery, Leung pulled a knife on a prostitute in her Tsuen Wan flat on Christmas eve - and promptly cut himself. He asked for plasters but the woman said she only had condoms. She gave him $70 and sent him on his way.

A few days later, he raided the flat of another prostitute. This time, the victim didn't take kindly to his demands and fought him off. He took flight but dropped his ID card in the flat. He then filed a report with the police, claiming the victim had tried to rob him and had taken the card. Police quickly figured out the truth.

Meanwhile, another would-be robber (right) probably thought he had found an easy target when he picked on a woman carrying her three-month-old daughter in Tuen Mun on Tuesday. How wrong he was.

The suspect, 30, allegedly wrapped a rope around the woman's neck and threatened to strangle her outside a housing estate on Ming Kum Road. The fright caused her to drop the baby. Enraged, the mother rounded on the attacker, who pulled a knife and chopped at her. Despite several knife wounds, the mother managed to disarm and beat him to the ground before he escaped empty handed.