A man and a woman were arrested on Wednesday for damaging four old trees in Coloane with lime and steel nails between mid-August and the middle of this month, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Lai Man Vai said at a regular press conference on Friday.
The two local suspects are a male surnamed Wong in his seventies and a female surnamed Chan in her fifties. Both told the police that they are businesspersons.
According to Lai, the Public Security Police (PSP) transferred the case to the Judiciary Police on Wednesday, following a report by the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) that four old trees in Largo Eduardo Marques in Coloane were damaged. The four trees are officially protected. Three of the trees’ trunks were painted white, while the suspects nailed a canvas onto the other one.
PJ officers investigating the case confirmed that the canvas had been nailed to the tree on August 15, while on September 14 and 15, three of the tree trunks were painted white.
PJ officers identified Wong and Chan and ordered them to report to a police station. Both suspects told the police that they did not know that the four trees were officially protected. They insisted that they merely intended to prevent the trees from being damaged by pests and rain erosion. Lai said that the white paint was lime but that the material’s exact composition still needed to be confirmed by laboratory tests.
The duo have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing an aggravated damage charge, according to Lai.
