CRIME | Man accused of trying to rape house party host

A 36-year-old man is being accused of sexually assaulting against a woman, aged 25, after a house party.

The incident occurred at around 4 a.m. on Sunday after a house party held by the victim, the Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesperson announced at a press conference yesterday.

The accused, a non-resident worker from the Philippines, had been invited to attend the party, which started at around 10 p.m. on Saturday in the apartment where the woman, also a non-resident worker from the Philippines, currently resides. A total of six people were present, most of them also residents of the same housing unit.

The group admitted that they consumed several alcoholic drinks at the gathering and were all intoxicated when the party finished in the early hours on Sunday.

The suspect asked to stay overnight in the host’s apartment. She acquiesced and went to bed herself in a room where the victim, her cousin, and her cousin’s boyfriend were also sleeping.

During this time, the man allegedly climbed to the upper deck of the bunk bed where the victim was sleeping and attempted to perform sex acts on her. The case was discovered and reported initially by the victim’s cousin, who was sleeping on the lower bunk and was awoken by cries from the victim, at which point they called the police.

In a separate case, the PJ received two similar reports from two local victims, both women, who had been informed by their banking institution of suspicious online transactions. Both had been targeted with four such transactions for products or services paid for in British pounds. The first woman’s transactions totaled MOP6,404 and the second woman’s came to MOP8,830.

Both informed their bank that they had not authorized any of those transactions and filed complaints with the PJ for suspected stolen credit card data.

In another case of swindling, a man from India claimed to have been scammed by another Indian in a scheme to find a job in Macau.

The victim said that in January this year he found an advertisement for Macau jobs in a local Indian newspaper. He replied to the ad and came into contact with the suspect.

The suspect then requested that the man pay a fee equivalent to MOP10,000 in order to travel to Macau to start the job, which he accepted.

On February 11 the two men traveled together to Macau. Upon their arrival, the suspect asked for more money totaling MOP45,000.

After the victim paid the amount, he lost contact with the suspect and has been searching for him ever since.

On April 4, the victim finally located the suspect in Macau and attempted to take the money back so he could return home.

The suspect refused to return the money, after which the victim filed a case against him with the PJ.

Smugglers attack Customs officers following detention attempts

Six smugglers were detained on Sunday after trying to resist orders given by the Macao Customs Service (Customs).

The incident took place at midnight last Sunday. The mainland Chinese marine police reported to Macau Customs that a motorboat suspected of being engaged in illegal activities was quickly approaching the sea in front of the Macau Airport’s runway.

Customs then dispatched officers to seize the boat. When officers arrived at the scene, they showed their identification and requested the boat stop its movement for inspection.

The boat’s drivers ignored the request and tried to escape by accelerating towards the Customs boat, which damaged the government vessel. One smuggler attacked the Customs officers with a bamboo pole but failed to injure them.

Two of the smugglers on board then attempted to jump off the boat to escape, but were later detained together with the four people who remained on the boat.

In total, five men and one woman have been arrested, all aged between 23 and 45 years old. The woman and four men are from mainland China, while the sixth individual is a man from Macau.

The two boat operators, along with the Macau resident, have already been transferred to the prosecution authorities. The other three, who are illegal immigrants, have been transferred to the Public Security Police Force.