A domestic helper was recalled to Eastern Court today to be informed that her one-year jail sentence for money laundering had been reduced to eight months.
Principal Magistrate David Cheung reduced the sentence handed
down on April 13 to Chery Morbo, 31 years old, after she was convicted of dealing
with property known or believed to represent proceeds of indictable offence, contrary
to sections 25.(1) and 25 (3) of the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance.
She had reported to police that her HSBC account, opened in
August 2024, was used for laundering $132,100 after five deposits and nine
withdrawals were reported to her by her bank over a five-day period. She said she
lost her ATM card earlier.
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She was arrested four months later and had been in remand
for four months.
“This is a case of being taken advantage of,” her lawyer said. He said she did not operate the account and there was no evidence she knew the predicate offense (from which the money was derived by persons unknown).
In the original sentence, Magistrate Cheung set a starting point of 18 months’ jail and deducted one-third as a discount for her guilty plea. Today, he gave her another discount of four months.
