The SUN HK : Filipino & Nepalese friend jailed 56 months for jewelry shop robbery

By The SUN

Aftermath of the robbery in March 2020 (TVB photo)

A Filipino bartender and his Nepalese friend who allegedly enticed him to take part in a jewelry store robbery more than four years ago were both sentenced to four years and eight months in jail at the High Court earlier today, Friday.

Mark Jordan Abella, 33, and Gurung Sanjan, 27, were meted the most severe penalties for the daytime robbery at Tai Sun Jewellery & Gold Shop in Yuen Long on Mar 3, 2020 in which eight men had taken part.

Three others were sentenced a day earlier to between 32 to 46 months for playing lesser roles in the heist, including two teenagers who merely acted as lookouts. The three others, including the mastermind, escaped arrest.

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In sentencing Abella and Sanjan, Judge Audrey Campbell-Moffat used five years as a starting point, but added two years for the considerable planning involved in the robbery which put the lives of the shop staff in danger, and the “considerable violence” used.

All five accused had pleaded guilty to the lightning robbery during which Abella had used a knife to threaten staff, and four of the older men had used axes and hammers to break the glass covers of the display cabinets containing the jewelry.

More than $600,000 worth of gold jewelry was taken by the robbers, and was not recovered.

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The judge said that although the robbery lasted only between one to two minutes, staff at the shop “were not to know that the weapons were not going to be used on them,” and “were not to know that the robbery would be over in one to two minutes.”

She also pointed out that the robbery was carefully planned, as shown by the fact that the vehicle used by the gang to get away had been stolen days before, and that someone had bought gloves, masks and the weapons which were used during the heist.

Further, all but one of the defendants had previous criminal records, and while these were not related to robbery, they were still violations of the law that must be taken into account in sentencing.

PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE

Abella and Sanjan, along with Gurung Ashish, Ale Magar Krishpoo and all appeared before Judge Campbell-Moffat on Tuesday and reiterated their guilty plea, before their respective lawyers presented their mitigation.

Ashish and Krishpoo, who were aged 17 and 16 respectively when the robbery was committed and merely acted as lookouts, had their mitigation hearing held separately. Ashish got the lightest sentence and was released for time served in detention, said prosecutor Duncan Percy.

They were sentenced on the same day as Ghale, who appeared in court on a wheelchair and whose lawyer said had suffered from physical and mental disability.

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Both Ghale and Abella said they were recruited for the hit by Sanjan.

The three defendants all pointed to a man who went by the name “Tyson” as the mastermind of the robbery. He managed to evade arrest, along with another accomplice called “Kale” and the driver of the getaway vehicle.

CCTV footage showed Abella, Ghale, Sanjan, Tyson and Kale entering the shop wearing masks and caps. Abella announced the robbery while holding a knife, while the other men used axes and hammers to smash the display cabinets and scoop out the jewelry.