By Vir B. Lumicao
A jobless Filipino resident has been fined $2,000 following his
admission in Eastern Court that he took $800 belonging to an ATM user who
withdrew the cash but forgot to take it last December.
Cenon L. Bautista pleaded guilty on Tuesday, Oct 22, before
Magistrate Bina Chainrai to one count of theft for taking the cash.
The prosecution said the offense took place on Dec 4 last year at
a Bank of China ATM outlet on the ground floor of China Overseas Bldg on
Hennessy Road.
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The victim reported the incident to the police and a review of the bank’s CCTV footage showed Bautista was next in line to Chow. When Chow left, the defendant took the money from the dispenser and walked away.
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Bautista could not be immediately located by police. It was
only upon his return from Manila on the evening of Oct 18 that he was intercepted
and arrested at the Immigration area of the Hong Kong International Airport.
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In mitigation, the defense lawyer said his client, who has three
daughters and two sons in the Philippines, came to Hong Kong in 1991 and used
to have a job that earned him $18,000 a month. He lost the job just before he went home.
The lawyer also said Bautista is suffering from Stage 2
colon cancer and wanted to go home for good.
Bautista agreed to pay the victim $800 to be coursed through
the court, his defense counsel told Chainrai. Part of the compensation would
come from his police bail money.
Chainrai imposed a fine of $2,000, which Bautista said he
would pay within a week.
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