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| Kowloon City Court |
A Filipina asylum-seeker who had just been sentenced by the High Court to 20 years and eight months for drug trafficking, was given an additional jail term of three months on Friday (October 30) for stealing a moble phone.
Rosita Palao, 56 years old, was convicted of theft, contrary
to section 9 of the Theft Ordinance, for stealing one mobile phone worth $11,269 on February 9, 2026, outside Isquare on Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui,
Kowloon.
Magistrate Claudia Ng said she finds no reason to deduct from the sentence she imposed on Palao, who had worked as a domestic helper for 15 years before overstaying and subsequently filing for non-refoulement, after a trial at Kowloon City Court.
The fact that she commited the theft while seeking non-refoulement,
which seeks to prohibit Hong Kong from deporting her, is an aggravating factor
because it breaches Hong Kong’s hospitality, the magistrate added.
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She ordered the new sentence to run after the High Court
sentence runs out.
Last Wednesday, Palao was found guilty after trial for drug
trafficking, for trying to pick up on May 15, 2023 a consignment of liquid
cocaine that had been brought into Hong Kong by her American co-defendant Stephen
Dickensheets, 68.
Dickensheets had flown into Hong Kong the day before from
Sao Paulo, Brazil via Paris, France, with a check-in luggage containing 17 bed
sheets soaked in liquid cocaine. He was arrested while undergoing secondary
check at customs clearance.
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Customs originally put the amount of cocaine found in his
possession to be 10 kilos, but the amount was downgraded to 1.5 kilos after
extensive examination by the Government Laboratory. The street value of the
haul was put at HK$1.9 million.
Because of his cooperation with the authorities which led to
the arrest of Palao and a third defendant, Nigeria and Benin national Fousseni
Orou Nicki, Dickensheets received a reduced sentence of 19 years and 8 months.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
Fousseni, also an asylum seeker, received the longest
sentence of 21 years and 8 months, after the court found him to be the key
player in the operation, having directed Palao to pick up the drugs from
Dickensheets at a hotel in Tin Shui Wai.
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