A BRANCH manager of a fashion chain store was sent to jail yesterday after he admitted pocketing money equivalent to 18 months' salary.
Chow Hing-tat, 25, who worked for J & R Bossini International, pleaded guilty to six counts of theft.
He admitted stealing more than $189,356 from the Bossini shop at Majestic House in Tsim Sha Tsui but claimed that he had lent it to a woman who fled with the money.
Before sentencing Chow to 18 months' imprisonment, Deputy Judge Muttrie said in the District Court that the figure involved was large - amounting to 18 months of Chow's salary.
Defence counsel Alice Pang submitted that her client had started repaying the stolen money to the company on July 13, 1993.
While noting that Chow appeared to have been deceived by a woman who had borrowed the $189,356 which he stole from the shop's daily takings, the judge said Chow had not managed to make full restitution.
