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| Sentencing will be on Jan 26 at the District Court |
How can anyone be guilty of a crime she had no knowledge of?
This was the gist of the mitigation presented by the
defense Monday, in the case of Filipina Lynie B. Acosta, who was found guilty after
trial at the District Court last month, of laundering more than HK$8.83 million using three
online bank accounts in her name.
District Judge Edward Wong deferred the sentencing
to Jan. 26 after hearing from both sides in the case, saying he was looking at
a starting point of four years in jail. (See this article for reasons for
verdict: https://www.sunwebhk.com/search?q=lynie+acosta)
Despite Acosta’s conviction, her defense lawyer still
vigorously argued that she had no knowledge of the crime she was charged with, and
did not benefit from.
The defendant can only be punished for conspiracy if
she was part of the gang that committed the offence, but there was no evidence
to support that, insisted her lawyer.
Acosta, a 38-year-old widow who has been working as
a domestic helper in Hong Kong since 2017, was convicted despite her claim that
she had been tricked into presenting her HKID card to “Jane” and two Chinese men she did not know, who paid her
$400 and told her they would use register her for a “game.”
Her lawyer said that had her church not been closed
that day in 2023, Acosta would not have been enticed to go to Tseung Kwan O and meet up
with those strangers.
However, Judge Wong reminded him that he had already
convicted Acosta after finding that she was part of an organized crime
syndicate that laundered the HK$8.83 million, the biggest amount to have been
linked to a migrant domestic worker charged with money laundering in Hong Kong.
Defense said it was not right for the judge to just
look at the amount involved in the crime, as Acosta had no knowledge or control
over money that went into the bank accounts opened in her name.
“Her acts were minimal, short-lived, and would not
have happened if her church was not closed that Sunday,” the defense said.
In any case, any sentence that would be imposed
should not exceed two years, he argued.
Judge Wong told both parties to study a Court of Appeal
case where the sentencing guidelines were set for money laundering cases, in
which the amount involved was cited as a determining factor.
He ordered Acosta returned to jail until her
sentencing.
