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SCMP Reporter

Defendants deny masterminding  a string of armed raids last year

Two men yesterday denied  any role in the murder of a security guard who was attacked by a gang of robbers after collecting cash from a Jockey Club betting centre in Kwai Chung.

Wong Hoi-chung, 34,  and Wong Chi-hung, 40,  were said to have masterminded a string of armed robberies that took place between April 2002 and June last year.

They  deny murdering security guard Chan Wai-leung  and two counts of robbery, one of attempted robbery and another of conspiracy to rob.

Prosecutor Jackson Poon  told the Court of First Instance that Chan suffered multiple stab wounds to his face, neck, back, chest, right arm and right thigh during the robbery on March 3 last year.

Chan died later the same day in hospital.

It was the prosecution's case that the two defendants took part in the offences with a group of mainlanders recruited by accomplice Cheung Kai-chung,  who has already been jailed for multiple counts of robbery.

Mr Poon said that in April 2002, Cheung, a mainlander, was asked by Wong Chi-hung to recruit three mainlanders to carry out a robbery in Hong Kong.

The court heard Cheung came to  the city and met the two defendants to discuss robbing a security van after it collected cash from the Jockey Club outlet at the Po Lam Estate Shopping Arcade, Tseung Kwan O.

On the day, Cheung and others, who were armed with a pistol and two knives, robbed two security guards after they collected $1.9 million from the betting centre.

One of the security guards was attacked when he tried to resist and suffered injuries to his back, head and left thigh, the court heard.

The second robbery allegedly took place on March 3 last year at Sun Kwai Hing Plaza in Kwai Chung.

Cheung was approached again and he discussed the robbery with the two defendants.

It is the prosecution's case that Cheung arranged four mainlanders to come to Hong Kong, while the two defendants provided them with a loaded pistol, an axe and two knives.

The court heard that when the two security guards were on their way to their security van, one of them was pushed from behind and fell to the ground, dropping   a case containing cash.

One of the robbers pointed a hard object at his head and he heard the sound of the  case being opened.

The other security guard, Chan Wai-leung, was seriously injured and certified dead later at the hospital. The attempted robbery offence took place on December 27, 2002, outside the Jockey Club betting centre in Sha Tin.

Mr Poon said two defendants acted as lookouts and provided the gang of mainlanders with a loaded pistol and two knives.

But their plan was foiled after the injured security guard alerted his colleagues to report the matter to the police. The gang fled empty-handed.

The prosecution said that in May last year, the two defendants, Cheung and others conspired to rob cash in transit from a Jockey Club branch in Chai Wan. But they were arrested on June 9 last year before the robbery could be carried out.

The trial continues before Madam Justice Clare-Marie Beeson.



Guard killed in botched robbery, court told