Crime | Chess player threatened over MOP20 board rent

One game of chess played in a public park in Macau reached a “life threatening” level recently, according to a case reported by the Public Security Police Force (PSP), after a player pulled a knife on a person demanding rent money for use of a chess board.

As reported during yesterday’s joint police press conference, the case took place on Sunday (March 15) and involves three men: the suspect, a self-proclaimed owner of a chess set, and the latter’s companion.

At around 3 p.m. on Sunday at the Areia Preta Triangle Garden, the suspect was playing chess with a group of his friends. Later, the alleged owner approached the suspect claiming that the set of chess belonged to him.

A sentence written on the board stated that anybody who wished to use the board should put down a 20 patacas “deposit”. The self-proclaimed chess owner asked the suspect for 20 patacas as “rent” for using the board.

After several unsuccessful attempts to collect the money, the supposed owner left the scene and returned with a friend whereupon the three men became engaged in an argument.

The suspect left the garden and returned with a knife, which was long enough to be defined as a banned weapon. While chasing the chess owner and the chess owner’s friend, nearby on duty PSP police officers noticed the situation and called for the armed man to stop, which he did.

The suspect is a 58-year-old Macau local resident who is a maintenance worker. He said that he had found the knife on the streets years ago and appropriated it for his workplace. The second man is a Macau local resident in his 60s.

In a second, unrelated case also reported yesterday, a male resident has accused his girlfriend of fraud and theft after she used his credit card and sold his watch to a pawn shop.

According to the Judiciary Police, the woman is a 43-year-old Macau resident. The two have been romantically involved and living together in the city since August 2019.

On March 14, the man went to Hong Kong and left the credit card in Macau. The woman claimed the man gave her permission to use the credit card.

On March 15, she accrued 141,700 Macau patacas in purchases on the credit card. On the same day, she sold her boyfriend’s watch at a pawn shop for HKD35,000. The man claimed a total loss of HKD198,700 to the police authority.

The police authority has charged the woman with aggravated theft and fraud.