An Eastern Court magistrate fined a young Filipina $1,000 on May 13 for shoplifting, but not before asking her mother to join her on the dock for a lecture on parental responsibility.
Deputy Magistrate Winston Leung dismissed a similar case against a co-defendant, another Filipina youth, after the prosecution withdrew the charge against her.
The defendant, 19-year-old Alleray Arriesgado, pleaded guilty on May 13 to a charge of theft and admitted the prosecutor’s report that, on Mar 15, she entered a Manning’s shop on Des Voeux Road West in Sheung Wan and took six bottles of GNC vitamins and a tube of hair removal cream when the sales clerk was not looking.
The stolen goods were valued at more than $1,700.
At the end of the day, when the sales clerk checked the shelves, she found out the goods were gone. She reviewed the CCTV recording in the shop and saw the defendant being caught on camera taking the items but not paying for them.
The employee called the police, who checked footage from the CCTV camera outside the shop.
It showed Arriesgado leaving the store and entering building No 408 on Des Voeux Road West.
Inquiries with residents on the block led the officers to the room rented by the defendant and her mother.
There they arrested the defendant and recovered all the stolen items.
“I convict the defendant of the charge of theft,” Leung said upon Arriesgado’s admission of the prosecution report.
In mitigation, the defense lawyer said Arriesgado was a dependent of her 56-year-old mother who was a restaurant worker.
The lawyer asked for leniency, citing his client’s guilty plea, remorse, and clear record. He requested the magistrate to impose a fine instead of a jail term because all the stolen items had been recovered.
Before sentencing, Leung asked the mother to stand beside her daughter.
“I understand that you are a Hong Kong resident and your daughter is not yet a resident. A young girl like her needs your guidance and supervision, and I’m giving her a chance,” Leung said.
He said the daughter stole merchandise worth $1,700, “not a small amount”, and was bound to be caught if she did it again in future.
Leung advised the mother to supervise her daughter, and the daughter to be good for the sake of her mother.
He ordered that the $1,000 fine be offset partly from the defendant’s $500 cash bail. - Vir B. Lumicao
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