A local man who served five prison terms was arrested on Tuesday, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam said during a special press conference yesterday.
The suspect, who was released from his fifth prison term in April last year, committed another crime on Tuesday, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Lam Keong said.
According to Lam, a local man in his early 30s walked past the bus stop near Avenida da Amizade and Hotel Lisboa on Tuesday afternoon. He glanced at the suspect unintentionally but the latter reacted by shouting at him. The victim got angry but left the scene after arguing with the suspect for a while. The suspect suddenly rushed after the victim and punched him in the head. Afterwards, the suspect snatched the victim’s platinum necklace and fled by taxi.
The 43-year-old suspect is surnamed Lam and claims to be unemployed.
The PSP spokesman said the victim, who sustained minor head and elbow injuries, reported the case to the police and said that the necklace the suspect snatched was worth HK$15,000.
PSP officers were able to track down Lam via the city’s CCTV footage and arrested him in Avenida Horta e Costa near the Chi Fu shop on Tuesday evening, after which he was transferred to the Judiciary Police for follow-up investigation into the case.
PJ officers who checked the suspect’s background discovered that Lam has a long rap sheet including robberies, thefts and property damage. He served five previous prison terms. His first imprisonment took place back in the 1990s. The most recent prison term was five years behind bars for robbery. He was released in April last year.
According to the PJ spokesman, Lam confessed that he attacked the victim and robbed him of his necklace. He told the police that he caught a taxi after the robbery and got out near Oceanus Casino where he took the necklace to a pawnshop for which he got HK$6,500. Afterwards, he changed clothes at a dessert eatery in Rua da Barca to avoid detection by the police. Lam said he had used the ill-gotten money to pay off his gambling debts. The Judiciary Police were able to retrieve the victim’s necklace from the pawnshop.
Lam was transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) yesterday, facing robbery and fraud charges, according to the PJ spokesman.
The handcuffed fraud suspect is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters in Zape to a vehicle yesterday. Photo: Iong Tat Choi
