2 Hong Kong robbers jailed for 8 years each over ‘shocking’ daylight Rolex theft
- Wong Tsz-fung, 23, and Tan Hoi-yan, 22, plead guilty to ‘vicious attack’ on engineer Ng Yiu-san with knife and extendable baton at MTR station in 2020
- Ng suffered multiple cuts to scalp, back and limbs, as well as severed nerve in right leg; still needs physiotherapy
Former warehouse worker Wong Tsz-fung, 23, and Tan Hoi-yan, 22, who had worked as a waiter, pleaded guilty at the High Court on Friday to robbery and wounding with intent over the incident at Tai Wai MTR station on August 4, 2020.
Madam Justice Susana D’Almada Remedios said the crime, committed in broad daylight, had caused widespread panic and fear in the community and could have easily involved innocent bystanders.
“The event can only be described as a vicious attack,” she said.
She highlighted the attack had been carefully planned and could have been fatal.
The judge added that the attack might also have caused significant trauma for the children and elderly people who witnessed the pair’s “relentless” assault on the victim with a 43cm (17 inch) knife and a 42cm extendable baton.
The court heard the accused each had three to six previous convictions and had agreed to commit the offence for quick money.
Wong used an alias to approach Ng Yiu-san, then 47, two days before the attack after the engineer offered his Rolex Cosmograph Daytona for sale on Facebook.
The 23-year-old attempted to haggle over the price when the two met up at the railway station at 4pm on the day of the attack, but Ng refused to budge.
Wong pretended to accept Ng’s conditions and left the scene purportedly to get the money, but returned with a baton alongside the knife-wielding Tan.
A prosecution case summary said the pair hit Ng repeatedly with the weapons until he collapsed on the ground and gave up a wrist bag that contained the Rolex to the two, who fled the scene in a car.
Police found the getaway vehicle at a roundabout in Tung Chung the next morning and also recovered the bloodstained weapons and clothing worn by the accused. The Rolex was never recovered.
Further investigation revealed that Wong had borrowed the car from a friend a day before the robbery and used a false registration number to carry out the crime. The friend was arrested but has not been charged.
Police arrested Wong on August 14 after they found he had checked in to a Tin Shui Wai hotel under his mother’s name. Officers later tracked down Tan through Wong’s mobile phone records.
Ng suffered multiple cuts to his scalp, back and limbs, as well as a severed nerve in his right leg. He still has difficulty walking and needs physiotherapy.
Defence lawyers said in mitigation the defendants regretted their foolish acts.
They said Wong was remorseful as shown in his written apology to Ng and his desire to surrender his savings of HK$43,775 as compensation.
But the judge said that sum was not enough to make up for what the victim had endured.
She set a sentence starting point of nine years on each charge, but reduced it to six years to reflect the defendants’ guilty plea before she imposed an overall term of eight years.
Robbery is punishable by up to life imprisonment.
