HK judge throws book at 2 Filipino pickpockets
HONG KONG—In this age of budget airlines, even pickpockets can be jet-setters.
A Hong Kong District Court judge on Thursday convicted two Filipinos—a 55-year-old man and his 20-year-old female accomplice—of pick-pocketing in the tourist district of Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) here.
Judge Garry Tallentire sentenced Ferdinand V. Villota to 38 months in prison and his accomplice, Jennifer M. Silvestre, to 10 months after both pleaded guilty to taking the wallet of a Chinese national in TST on Sept. 17.
It turned out that Villota had been deported from Hong Kong back in 1986 but he returned to the city again and again using different names and was arrested seven times for acts “similar” to pick-pocketing.
Silvestre, on the other hand, said she only met Villota on a budget-fare flight to Macau in September.
“(Villota), you are a mature man of 55 years but you have an appalling record here in Hong Kong. You are dishonest to the extent that you have no regard for your deportation order,” said Tallentire.
Villota was supposed to receive a jail term of only 14 months but his violation of his deportation order added two years, or 24 months, in prison.
According to the prosecution, plainclothes policemen noticed Villota and Silvestre on the afternoon of Sept. 17 conversing and studying the people passing through the corner of Haipong and Hankow roads in TST.
At 4:42 p.m., the two Filipinos followed their victim, C.Y. Lam, who was carrying a shoulder bag. Villota approached Lam, surreptitiously opened his bag and took out his wallet.
“At the same time, (Silvestre) used a handbag to cover (Villota’s) act,” the court said.
Villota took from Lam’s wallet HK$1,370 in cash, his driver’s license, home residency permit and five bank cards before throwing it away.
“At this point, (Lam) noticed that his bag had been opened and his wallet was gone. (Villota) threw away the wallet and fled but was intercepted by the police,” Tallentire said.
Villota quickly admitted to the crime while Silvestre initially denied being his accomplice.
Seeking leniency, the Filipinos’ lawyer told the judge Villota was a taxi driver with seven children back in the Philippines.
“(He) has a cousin in Hong Kong and he wanted to come over to seek a job but he couldn’t find one after a few days,” the lawyer said.
Silvestre, on the other hand, was a sophomore college student studying the culinary arts who took a trip to Macau on Sept. 11 after breaking up with her boyfriend, the lawyer added.
“Initially, these two defendants were not acquainted. It just happened that they were seated next to each other on the plane and became friends,” she said.
They spent a day in Macau and came to Hong Kong on Sept. 13. Silvestre was supposed to fly back to the Philippines from Macau that same day.
However, she got lost going to the ferry terminal for the trip back to Macau and ended up at the Hong Kong international airport.
