Ex-senior employee ordered to do 80 hours of community service for stealing household appliances from Hong Kong chief secretary’s residence
- Wong Wai-kuen, 44, was chief steward at Victoria House when he stole a refrigerator and dehumidifier from the premises
- He confessed to wrongdoing after a search of his flat found that his refrigerator was not the model offered to staff
The former chief steward at the residence of Hong Kong’s No 2 official has received 80 hours of community service for stealing electronic appliances from the premises for his own use.
Wong Wai-kuen returned to Eastern Court on Tuesday to be sentenced on two counts of theft after he admitted twice committing the crime because his own household devices did not work properly.
The 44-year-old was the chief steward at Victoria House, the official residence of then chief secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, when he stole a refrigerator from the premises on 15 Barker Road on The Peak without anyone noticing on June 9, 2020.
He pushed his luck again and took a dehumidifier from a storage room on the night of March 5 last year, but his act was witnessed by a security guard outside the staff dormitory.
When the security guard confronted Wong, the latter told her to stop meddling in other people’s business and took the dehumidifier to his flat in the dormitory.
The security guard reported the case to her supervisor the next day.
Wong later told an internal inquiry that he had only “borrowed” the dehumidifier and would return it after one month, but confessed to wrongdoing after a search of his flat found his refrigerator was not the model offered to staff.
He told police he first committed the crime after his own fridge broke down. He said he had stolen the dehumidifier because of the wet weather.
On Tuesday, a duty lawyer representing Wong described the defendant’s pre-sentencing reports as positive in urging the court to impose a lenient penalty. A probation officer had suggested a short-term community service order was enough to deter Wong from further offences.
Magistrate Edward Wong Ching-yu accepted the officer’s recommendation and ordered the accused to perform 80 hours of unpaid community work.
Theft is punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment, but is capped at three years when the case is heard before a magistrate.
The chief steward is a contractual position at various official residences of senior government figures responsible for handling household chores, managing staff and organising events and meetings.
A job advertisement for the position at Victoria House last November offered a monthly salary of HK$31,750 (US$4,070) to the successful applicant, who was required to have at least nine years’ housekeeping experience and a minimum of five years working at management level.
