By Vir B. Lumicao
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The fake goods found inside the TST flats (Customs & Excise Dept photo)
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A 37-year-old Filipina former domestic worker who jumped
bail more than three years ago was sentenced to four months in jail on Aug 6,
after being re-arrested at the airport when she tried to get in as a tourist
recently.
Russell de Castro, 37, pleaded guilty to possessing fake
branded goods worth $1.26 million, which she claimed were owned by a man who had
hired her as a parttime worker.
She was immediately jailed on orders of Kowloon City Court Magistrate
Woo Huey-fang, who rejected the defense lawyer’s request for a lenient sentence,
citing her record of absconding.
De Castro was arrested by police on Jul 28, 2015 after she
was seen acting suspiciously when she emerged from a lift on the first floor of
Hankow Apartments in Tsimshatsui.
When questioned, she introduced herself as an employee of GM
Trading with offices on the first floor of the building. Officers searched six
units in the building which she identified and found a hoard of fake branded
goods inside.
De Castro said she had worked in the shop for only three
days, and was paid $300 a day by Shah Habab, a Pakistani who she identified as
the owner of GM Trading.
Officers from the Customs and Excise Department and Customs contacted
by police inspected the goods and declared all to be counterfeit. The goods
were seized and taken to the Tsimshatsui Police Station.
De Castro and Habab were arrested, and the Filipina was questioned
further at the North Police station.
Both were subsequently allowed to post bail, and the Filipina took the
chance to flee to the Philippines on May 28, 2016. Habab, meanwhile, was sentenced
to six months’ imprisonment.
When De Castro returned to Hong Kong as a tourist on Jul 10
this year, she was intercepted at Hong Kong International Airport and hauled to
court.
As part of reading out the charges against her, the
prosecution recited a long list of branded counterfeit items seized from GM
Trading, including 875 pieces of Louis Vuitton handbags, 865 Coach, 240 Chanel,
200 Burberry, 290 Prada; 334 pairs of Nike and 202 pairs of New Balance shoes,
740 Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirts, 314 Lacoste T-shirts, 720 pieces of fake
Ice Watch timepieces, 620 Prada wallets, 260 Lacoste handbags, 260 Polo Ralph
Lauren T-shirts, 930 Louis Vuitton and 630 Coach wallets, Oakley and Gucci
sunglasses, and one Rolex watch.
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