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| Eastern Court |
A Filipina charged with breaching her condition of stay by overstaying for nearly two years will be able to enter her plea, more than a year after she was arrested and detained.
Joan Aguli, 44 years old, appeared today before Magistrate Kestrel Lam at Eastern Court on this last of four charges originally filed against her following her arrest on June 27 last year.
Magistrate Lam scheduled the next hearing for Jan. 20 next year
to register her plea on the charge of breach of visa conditions, provided under section 41 of the Immigration Ordinance. He ordered that she be
returned to jail.
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| DETAILS HERE |
The condition of stay imposed by an Immigration Assistant permitted
her to remain in Hong Kong as a domestic helper until Sept. 6, 2022, but she remained
in Hong Kong until her arrest on June 27, 2024, the police complaint said.
She has since applied for non-refoulement but has been turned
down.
Magistrate Lam’s order was silent on the charge of possession
of a dangerous drug -- 0.70 grams of a crystalline solid containing
methamphetamine hydrochloride (otherwise known as shabu or ice) -- because she was
fined $500 for it on Nov. 27 last year after her lawyer argued that she was
using the drug to fight depression.
In addition to the drug charge, Aguli was also convicted of two
counts of theft for shoplifting, for which she was sentenced to three months
each, to run at the same time.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
In a separate but similar case in the same court, Emelita Arista,
56 years old, is accused of remaining in Hong Kong for almost 13 years after
her visitor visa expired on April 10, 2004, until her arrest on Feb. 19, 2017.
Magistrate Lam adjourned her case to June 23 next year and
allowed her bail of $1,000.
