A mainland man was arrested on Tuesday for threatening a woman with a knife in a hotel guestroom in Cotai and robbing her of casino chips worth HK$500,000, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said at a special press conference yesterday.
Chan said the suspect forced the victim to sign an IOU, and then used his smartphone to film her, in an attempt to cover up the robbery by carrying out a plan so he could allege that the victim had borrowed money from him.
The 30-year-old jobless suspect surnamed Wang is from Liaoning province. The victim is a mainlander running a real estate business.
According to Chan, the security staff of a hotel in Cotai called the Judiciary Police on Tuesday night to report that a female guest had been robbed by a man of gambling chips worth HK$500,000 in her guestroom earlier that night, and hotel security guards later intercepted the man at the hotel’s casino. The victim told the police that after she returned to her room for a rest after gambling in the casino, someone rang the bell and she opened the door. A man pushed the door open and entered the room. He threatened her with a knife and asked her to get out all of her valuables. She took chips worth HK$650,000 from her handbag and put them on the table.
Chan said the man then took out an IOU and a stamp pad. He told the victim to fill in her name and fingerprint the IOU so that he could use it as “evidence” that the victim had borrowed HK$500,000 from him.
At the same time, the man was filming her. Afterwards the man took chips worth HK$500,000 and left the room. The victim then called hotel staff to assist her in informing the Judiciary Police about the robbery.
According to Chan, thanks to the hotel’s CCTV footage, the hotel security staff discovered that Wang was still in the hotel’s casino and intercepted him there. PJ officers arrived at the hotel and questioned Wang. Wang claimed that he did not rob the victim at knifepoint.
He alleged that he went to her room to get back the money he had lent her and get her to sign the IOU.
He told the police that he had filmed the victim as evidence that she had borrowed money from him and then paid him back.
However, based on the information and CCTV footage provided by the hotel’s security, PJ officers later found the knife that Wang used to threaten the victim in a litter bin at the hotel. The officers also scrutinised the “evidence” video clip on Wang’s smartphone. The video showed reflected in the the guestroom’s mirror that Wang was holding a knife when he was filming the victim.
Chan said Wang entered Macau last Wednesday and gambled away all his money. After seeing that the victim had hit a winning streak he followed her to her guestroom.
PJ officers seized HK$200,000 in cash and chips worth HK$300,000 from Wang. The HK$200,000 was from the chips that Wang had exchanged into cash at the casino, according to Chan.
Wang was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing charges of robbery and possession of a prohibited weapon, according to Chan.
The hooded robbery suspect is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters to a PJ vehicle yesterday. Photos: Iong Tat Choi
Evidence seized from the suspect such as HK$200,000, six HK$50,000 casino chips, a stamp pad and an IOU is displayed at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters yesterday.
