bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

The judge says a deterrent sentence is needed to uphold the safety of HK's rich

A High Court judge yesterday said  upholding the safety of Hong Kong's rich and affluent was crucial to maintaining the city's stability as he sentenced four men for kidnapping a wealthy businessman.

They had abducted Lam Yick-ming last year and collected  $5 million for his release.

'There are still a lot of rich people in Hong Kong and the stability of this community cannot be allowed to be jeopardised by the proliferation of these offences in our midst,' said Mr Justice Peter Nguyen  as he sentenced the kidnappers to jail terms of up to 21 years. 'Kidnapping is a vicious, cowardly, disgusting, horrific, callous, evil offence,' he said. The kidnappers'  actions warranted a 'condign and deterrent' sentence.

'A clear message must be sent to people like-minded of the four [kidnappers] that society will not tolerate this offence of kidnapping,' he said.

The Court of First Instance heard  that Mr Lam  was abducted in a Tsim Sha Tsui East car park on September 4 last year when he was approached by one of the men, who  posed as a police officer.

Mr Lam was  pistol whipped and shoved into a van where he was pinned down, handcuffed and blindfolded.

He was driven to a hut made of metal sheeting where  members of the kidnapping gang  told Mr Lam that although he was worth $200 million to them, they were willing to ransom him for $50 million.

The ransom was eventually negotiated down to $5 million.

Authorities managed to close in on the gang after Mr Lam's partner called them after he was told to raise the funds.

Police tracked  the gang by tracing the car they used in the ransom pick-up and by using a special fluorescent powder dusted on the money. It was the first time the powder had been used in Hong Kong.

The gang's mastermind, Pun Luen-pan, 28, was jailed  for 21 years after a Court of First Instance jury found him guilty of kidnapping for ransom.

Chi Ka-cheuk, 29, was jailed for 10 years and eight months after pleading guilty to the same charge while Tang Kai-wing, 26, and Li Kam-bun, 28, received 11 years and eight months after entering a late guilty plea.

To date, only $1,196,000 of the ransom has been recovered. This includes the $92,000 police found  in Pun's pocket on his arrest, the $297,000 found in a black nylon bag in the gang's hotel room and the $300,000 handed in by a friend of Pun's wife.

Mr Justice Nguyen said kidnappers aimed for 'soft targets'  whose routines and habits could easily be observed and noted.

Mr Justice Nguyen said the trauma of the offence also extended to the victim's family, wife and children who had to contend with an 'excruciatingly agonising' wait for their loved one's release.

He   extended a commendation from the bench to the police officers involved in the kidnapping case.

'The speedy resolution of this case gives members of the public, who are unfortunate to fall victim to kidnapping, the confidence to report to the police instead of quietly delivering the ransom and hoping that their loved ones will be released,' he said.



Kidnap mastermind is jailed for 21 years