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| Place where alleged theft happened (Google Maps photo) |
A major piece of evidence – a sound recording described by prosecutors as an oral confession by a Filipina accused of stealing a gold ring and a gold necklace from her employer – was excluded today from her trial at Eastern Court.
Magistrate Frances Leung agreed with the duty lawyer of Lilibeth
Fabros, 51 years old, that there was doubt over whether the recording was
taken voluntarily, but ruled that she has a case to answer.
Fabros testified earlier that she found out about the
recording only when her duty lawyer informed her about it, long after charges
were filed against her.
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Last Feb. 26, Fabros testified that the jewelry she was accused
of stealing from her employer Linda Chan at her flat in Dragon Garden, Tai
Hang, on Nov. 15, 2021, were hers.
The two items, recovered from a pawn shop in North Point to
which she led two police investigators, were not among those listed by Chan as
missing.
The recording was taken from one of the three confontations
between Fabros and Chan.
Fabros testified that their first conversation was in the
afternoon of Aug. 9, 2013, when Chan asked if she saw a diamond ring. “I said I
did not,” she said. “I felt upset because she told me that if she proves I took
it, she will report me to police and Immigration.”
Chan recorded the second conversation on her mobile phone that night, without informing Fabros, who was said to have admitted the theft. But the defendant said she only offered to repay her employer through salary deductons because she was in a panic and feared losing her job.
As a result of her testimony, Fabros’ lawyer asserted that
the ring and necklace she admitted to have pawned are not related to the case.
He also insisted the secret voice recording was not a confession and should not be admtted as evidence as that would be unfair to Fabros.
Magistrate Leung freed Fabros on $3,000 bail and set the trial’s resumption to April 1.
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