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| The accused walked free from Kwun Tong court after the verdict |
A Filipina domestic helper who triggered
an anti-theft alarm when she pushed a baby stroller through the exit of a
Uniqlo store In Tseung Kwan O, was
acquitted today of stealing three trousers worth $597.
Lany Diones, 34 years old, emerged teary-eyed from Shatin Court
after the verdict, escorted by her employer who attended all her hearings since
the case was filed in June. They were holding hands when they went to the court’s
cashier to claim Diones’ bail of $600.
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| Pindutin para sa detalye |
“Prosecutors have failed to prove the defendant had criminal
intention,” concluded Deputy Magistrate Dicky Cheung in a decision he read out in
court.
The prosecution had the duty to prove it, and it had not
done so, he added.
The decision came after a trial last Friday, in which
prosecutors presented a CCTV footage of the incident on March 6 at the Uniqlo
shop in a mall in Tseun Kwan O, and a part-time sales lady who explained what
happened.
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| PINDUTIN DITO! |
Diones also testified to give her side of the story.
Cheung noted that the prosecution did not add much to the
agreed facts they presented and did not present direct evidence to show that Diones
had “the requisite intention to commit theft.”.
Diones was charged by police with theft after arresting her
for leaving the store with the trousers without paying.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
During the trial, the CCTV footage showed that after the
alarm sounded, Diones returned to the store and was intercepted by the sales lady
who found the three trousers on the canopy of the stroller, partly covered by
the jacket of Diones’ ward, the two-year-old daughter of her employer.
Diones testified that she was distracted by her ward’s
crying for the third time since they entered the store, and that she had to
appease her by trying to keep moving and thus passing through the exit without
realizing it.
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| Pindutin dito |
“I have difficulty believing her,” said Magistrate Cheung. “However,
this disbelief is not enough” to reach the irresistible inference that she stole
the trousers.
A person intent on stealing the trousers will not place them on the stroller’s canopy where it would be conspicuous, he said.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
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