Stall-holder jailed for selling stolen tools

A MAN removed serial numbers from stolen tools in order to resell them at his Shamshuipo stall, the District Court heard yesterday.

Chow Yiu-pui, 60, who sells secondhand tools at an Apliu Street stall, pleaded guilty at the end of the Crown's case to three counts of handling stolen goods.

Defence counsel Mr Lee Wing-kin said the seized goods were worth about $15,000.

He urged the court to pass a suspended sentence on Chow, saying his client had an unblemished record apart from a minor offence which dated back a decade.

But Judge Hartmann said an immediate custodial sentence was inevitable and jailed Chow for one year and nine months.

He said Chow received the stolen goods from a man called Ah Hung and intended to make a profit by selling them to a third party.

Instead of being a casual receiver, Judge Hartmann said, he believed the present case was only part of a continuous procedure during which stolen goods were handled by Chow.

Prosecutor Mr Anthony Yuen said decoration worker Mr Cheng Wing-pong reported on November 19, 1991, that an electric drill and a polisher were missing from a Mongkok flat where he was carrying out renovations.

The next day, Mr Cheng went to Apliu Street and found his missing tools on sale at Chow's stall.

On December 12, 1991, a search was conducted at Chow's home, where other stolen goods including four electric cutting machines and an electric drill were found, the court heard.

Another search was conducted at Chow's stall, where tools including 15 electric drills, 10 electric grinders and five electric hammers were seized.

A total of 19 victims identified some of the seized items as theirs and confirmed they had been stolen while construction or decoration work was being carried out.