A male mainlander has been arrested for vandalising a hotel guestroom registered in his friend’s name after they gambled away their money, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Lei Hon Nei said at a special press conference yesterday.
The 31-year-old suspect surnamed Zhou told the police that he’s jobless.
According to Lei, Zhou and his friend travelled to Macau and gambled on March 7 and 8, staying at a Cotai hotel where they lost several hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars in the casino there, during which Zhou’s friend claimed that Zhou was an “unlucky” person.
On the evening of March 8, while Zhou’s friend was having dinner, he received photos and videos of Zhou destroying electric appliances, the beds, and other items, as well as burning a pair of trousers in the hotel room. The victim promptly returned to the hotel and reported the incident to hotel staff, while Zhou had already fled to the mainland.
The hotel management estimated the damage to the property to be valued at 104,000 patacas.
Zhou was arrested on Monday when he entered Macau through the Hengqin checkpoint. Under questioning, he admitted to destroying the hotel guestroom due to his frustration with his friend and his wife, with whom he was having marital problems.
Zhou said that he intended to attract his wife’s attention by sending videos of him wrecking the room, and later agreed that he would pay for the damaged hotel property.
Zhou was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Officer (MP) yesterday, facing an aggravated charge of causing property damage and arson, Lei said.
Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded suspect to a PJ vehicle outside the PJ headquarters in Zape yesterday. – Photo: William Chan
This undated pixelated handout photo provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday shows the Cotai hotel guestroom wrecked by the suspect.
