The SUN HK : Filipino jailed for arson threat & assault back in court

Ronald Bondoc

A Filipino waiter who was sent to prison last April for threatening to burn down the Philippine Consulate and hurting a staff member, was back in Eastern Court today, this time charged with beating up his live-in partner and threatening to assault her again.

Ronald Bondoc, 42, who was detained after being arrested for the attack last Oct. 2 on Karla Gonzales, was returned to jail after the charges were read to him, and Principal Magistrate Ivy Chui rejected his offer of $1,200 bail.

Bondoc collapsed, cried and had to be prodded to stand up as Magistrate Chui noted that he was facing charges for a similar offense “very soon after serving your sentence”, referring to his previous conviction for assaulting a Consulate staff.

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE

Bondoc’s duty lawyer had earlier offered bail for his provisional release, but the prosecutor objected , citing the previous conviction and strong evidence in their possession, such as photos of the victim’s injuries.

Chui set a bail review on Oct. 13, and advised Bondoc that he could go to the High Court to apply for bail.

Bondoc was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, which is punishable with up to three years’ imprisonment under the Offense Against the Person Ordinance, for beating up Gonzales at their flat in Jardine’s Crescent, Causeway Bay, on Oct. 2.

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE

He was also charged with threatening her with injury, with the intent to alarm her, which is punishable with up to two years in prison and fine of up to $5,000 under the Crimes Ordinance.

The new charges came less than six months after Bondoc was sentenced to 10 weeks in jail by Magistrate Leona Chan on April 3, also at Eastern Court. He was found guilty after trial in which he defended himself, on all three charges laid against him.

Magistrate Chan sentenced Bondoc to six weeks in jail for the first charge of criminal intimidation, because he had repeatedly issued the threat to burn down the Consulate and hurt its staff, particularly, “Arnel,” in a telephone call lasting more than an hour on Jan 22 last year.

Pindutin dito

In the second charge of common assault, Bondoc was sentenced to four weeks in jail. He had gone to the Consulate on Jan 24, 2022 armed with a golf club, and then grabbed a male staff by the neck before pushing him to the ground.

Two weeks of this sentence were ordered to be served concurrently, and the other two weeks, consecutively, to the first sentence of six weeks in jail.

Magistrate Chan added another four weeks’ imprisonment to Bondoc’s sentence for the third charge of loitering causing concern, which happened on March 28, 2022 when he brought along a metal bar and hung around the lift lobby of the Consulate before being taken away by the police.

Two weeks of this sentence were to be served consecutive to the previous sentences, making a total of 10 weeks’ imprisonment.