Stolen laptop brings stiff jail term for Filipino |
A jobless Filipino was jailed today for 22 months after he pleaded guilty at the District Court to stealing a laptop computer.
The penalty meted on Salvador Bermejo by Judge W.K. Kwok was
heavier than for ordinary theft because he committed it by breaking into a shop
in Olympian City in Tai Kok Tsui, Kowloon, to steal the computer valued at
$8,400 on July 24, 2024.
As a result, he was charged with burglary.
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Basahin ang detalye! |
A police complaint quotes a section in the Theft Ordinance which
defines burglary as entering any building as a trespasser and steals or
attempts to steal anything or attempts to inflict on any person any grievous
bodily harm. It is punishable by up to 14 years in jail.
Bermejo, 30 has been in detention since his arrest in July 2024
and consequent appearances at West Kowloon Court, after which the case was elevated to the District Court on
Jan 16 this year.
Bermejo has been in trouble with the law in recent years.
On July 28, 2022, at Eastern Court, he was ordered arrested
after he failed to show up for his sentencing at Eastern Court, after
earlier pleading guilty to stealing a pair of shoes from a flat in Wanchai on
April 1, 2022.
When he finally showed up in court on Aug. 11, he ended up
being sent to the Drug Abuse Treatment Center after blood tests showed he had
meth in his blood, and told to pay the owner of the shoes $3,300 over nine
months.
Magistrate Jason Wan, who handled the case, also noted that
Bermejo had two earlier drug convictions.