By Vir B. Lumicao
 |
| The money stolen was fees paid by clients of Fitness First in Tower 535 in Wanchai |
A young single mother who worked at a fitness center in
Wanchai faces time in jail after admitting in Eastern court on May 28 that she
stole nearly $29,000 in customers’ fees six months ago.
S.M.G., 31, who worked as a clerk at the Fitness First outlet
at Tower 535 on Jaffe Road
The counsel assigned to her by the Duty Lawyer Service pleaded
for community service so his client could
continue working, but the magistrate turned down the request, saying that
breach of trust called for immediate custodial sentence.
The Filipina, who had been on bail, was ordered by Heung to
be detained pending sentencing on Jun 17, as the court awaits a background
report.
S.M.G. admitted pocketing cash totaling $28,737.75 which she
was supposed to deposit in the company’s bank account on two separate occasions
in November last year.
The first batch of cash given her by the gym manager for
deposit into the company’s account on Nov 6 last year totaled $11,450.27. Then, between
Nov 13 and Nov 21, she was again asked to deposit $17,287.40 to the bank account.
But when the manager checked the bank statement, he was
surprised to find out that no money had been deposited into the account.
The manager confronted the clerk about the missing money and she
agreed to reimburse the company, but managed to pay back only $6,000.
On Apr 18 this year, she was intercepted at the Hong Kong International Airport
In mitigation, the defense counsel said his client's family had
left Hong Kong , and she was left behind to
look after her daughter and pay off an $80,000 bank loan, of which she had
already repaid $50,000.
She was working and earning $15,000 a month in her
present job, the counsel said, requesting that the woman do community service
instead. But the magistrate refused.
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