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SCMP Reporter

A Hong Kong man was jailed for  three years yesterday after being convicted of  helping a  pregnant mainlander enter the city illegally in his car.

District Court Judge Chua Fi-lan also highlighted the  loopholes in  border control measures at Sha Tau Kok.

Wong Tak-keung, 28, earlier denied  a charge of assisting the  unauthorised entry  of Zheng Lianhua, using   his seven-seat car,  after she left Chung Ying Street on August 25 last year.

The judge said: 'Local pregnant women are upset because of the lack of hospital beds, due to the influx of mainlanders  ... they came to Hong Kong to deliver their child  to get an identity [card] for them.'

She said the situation would be 'worrying' if the pregnant women were assisted in sneaking into the city.

Judge Chua questioned lax control in Sha Tau Kok, near Chung Ying Street.

She was referring to the absence of Immigration Department checkpoints in Sha Tau Kok, while  checkpoints manned by police had at times been left unattended.

The court heard that on August 25  a police officer on a Sha Tau Kok rooftop saw a pregnant woman get into Wong's car.

Wong was intercepted by police, and a forged identity document was later found in his vehicle.

Testifying earlier, a police officer  admitted that one guard post had been left unattended  when Zheng passed through in order to get into Wong's car.

Police also admitted that sometimes the guard post in Chung Ying Street would be left unattended  during the lunch break.

The judge asked why there had been  no police at the guard post  when Zheng passed through, adding that the lunch break was not an excuse.

A police spokesman said the force reviewed its border manpower from time to time. 'This includes  deploying police officers to  patrol  in Chung Ying Street.' He said the checkpoints had not been left unguarded since the incident.

The Immigration Department referred inquiries to the Security Bureau. A bureau spokesman said  Chung Ying Street was a place where people with valid closed access permits could cross, but did not comment further on the case.

Passing sentence, Judge Chua  described it as a 'well-planned operation involving a network of persons in the mainland ... who could help to issue Chinese documents for entry'.

Evidence also showed Wong promised to assist Zheng because  of a cash reward, and had known Zheng was an illegal entrant.

The judge  doubted if Zheng might have known there would be no police at the guard post, where she had to pass through to get into the car.

Zheng later gave birth to a baby, while serving a 12- month jail term for  illegally entering Hong Kong.



Man who helped pregnant woman enter HK jailed