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| Visa application interview (Immigration Department photo) |
Lying to Immigration officers and misleading them into granting her a visa as domestic helper has resulted in a Filipina beng jailed for a combined 12 months after she pleaded guilty today at Shatin Court to three counts of conspiracy to defraud.
Mel Valerie Cabresante, 42 years old, was convicted of three
counts of violating thre Common Law and was punished under section 159C of the
Crimes Ordinance by Acting Principal Magistrate Cheang Kei-hong.
She got a seven-month jail sentence for the first case, in
which she admitted to conspiring with agent Homer Herrera and “other persons
unknown”, in “dishonestly and falsely representing” to Immigration officers that
she would work for a certain Gurung Kumari Gayan as a domestic helper.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
The misrepresentation, which took place between October and Nov,
11, 2021, induced Immigration officers to grant her permission to remain in Hong
Kong “under circumstances which they would not otherwise have granted,” according
to the complaint filed by the Immigration Department.
Cabresante was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment for
the second charge in which she again conspired with Herrrera to misrepresent
that she would be working as a domestic helper for a certain Mohammad Butt when
she applied for a visa between November 2021 and Jan. 13, 2022.
The misrepresentation again induced the immigrtion officers “to
act contrary to their public duty” in
granting her a working visa.
In the third case for which she was jailed for nine months, which
also involved Herrera and unknown persons, she reiterated to Immigration oficers
the lie that she would be employed by Butt in the visa application which she
pursued between November 2021 and April 20, 2022.
In his ruling, Magistrate Cheang ordered that the first six
months of the first two sentences run at the same time, leaving one and two
months, respectively, to be added to the nine-month penalty for the third case.
