A Filipino permanent resident of Hong Kong was convicted and jailed for a total of 36 months on Jul 25 after he pleaded to two charges of theft, one of taking conveyance without authority, and another for burglary.
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| District Court in Wanchai. |
The proceedings were conducted in Cantonese as the defendant spoke and understood the local language because he was born and raised in Hong Kong, the prosecutor said after the hearing.
Ramos was arrested on Sept 22 last year in Yaumatei, after a month-long hunt by the police following a burglary and theft incident at a second-hand car shop in Tsimshatsui.
The prosecutor said he was seen on a CCTV footage entering the shop on Aug 18, 2016, and taking an unspecified amount of cash, and two keys to a company car that were kept in a can.
Three days later, the defendant went to the public parking lot in Tsimshatsui where the company parked its car and the second-hand cars for sale.
He opened the company car and drove away with it.
On Aug 30, the car was recovered in a public carpark in Yaumatei, after a guard reported to police that it had been abandoned there for several days.
When the shop manager checked the vehicle, he discovered that 22 car keys he kept in a can under the driver’s seat were missing.
The prosecutor said Ramos had 12 previous convictions for theft and two for burglary.
On Jan 22 this year, he broke into the manager’s room in a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet in Whampoa Garden, Hung Hom, and stole one laptop computer, a bracelet, $1,000 cash and other personal belongings, the prosecutor said.
Only the computer was recovered.
The prosecutor noted that he carried out the burglary while he was out on bail for the car company theft.
