A GANG of armed youths who held up a kung fu film director and Chinese opera star at gunpoint in a $470,000 restaurant raid were yesterday jailed for a total of 40 years.
Lau Kar-leung, his wife former actress Yung Ching-ching, and singer Yuen Siu-fai were among dozens of people at the Tai Ping Koon Restaurant, Mau Lam Street, Yau Ma Tei, when four gunmen burst in.
As diners screamed in terror the gang, three of whom were armed, seized jewellery, watches and cash, the High Court heard.
Prosecutor Wayne Moultrie said two diners were struck and had pistols held to their heads during the holdup shortly before 11 pm on January 2, last year.
The gunmen, Pun Luen-pan, 19, Lam Ka-lok, 21, Pang Oi-kwong, 20, and a fourth man fled with a $470,000 haul after robbing 39 diners.
Passing sentence Deputy Judge Woolley said: ''A large number of customers were threatened and robbed and they must have been in fear for their lives.'' Pun was jailed for 10 years for robbery and eight years for possession of a firearm, to run concurrently, after pleading guilty to both charges. Lam and Pang, were jailed for 15 years for robbery and 12 years for possession of a firearm, to run concurrently, after a jury found them guilty of both offences.