A British man stole a torch and a hairdryer from a hotel in the city centre and broke a rubbish bin in the hotel’s corridor, causing the hotel to incur a loss of about 9,800 patacas after the two parties failed to reach an agreement over the suspect’s mistake of overpaying for his room.
Public Security Police (PSP) spokeswoman Lai In Hong said during a regular press conference yesterday that the suspect, surnamed Lyall, who is in his thirties, checked into the hotel on October 6 and renewed his stay through an online platform on October 20 for another week until Sunday. Lai quoted the suspect as saying that, as a result of an operational error, he had paid for the hotel room twice, and that he had negotiated with the hotel to renew his stay for one more week to cover the money that he had overpaid.
According to Lai, the suspect, who had entered Macau as a tourist on October 6, admitted to committing theft and vandalism in retaliation for the hotel’s refusal of his request.
The Public Security Police received the report about the incident from the hotel manager on Sunday and intercepted the British national on Tuesday at another hotel in Zape district, based on check-in records, Lai noted. The suspect has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for further investigation.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows two police officers escorting the theft and vandalism suspect to a PSP station in Nam Van.
