Gaming debt leads to a series of crimes

A 41-year-old woman from the mainland has faced serious complications after lending HKD200,000 to a man, also from the mainland, whom she met on an airplane while traveling to Macau.
According to a report from the Judiciary Police (PJ) during yesterday’s regular joint press conference from the police forces, the woman fell victim to a scam involving kidnapping and her losing possession of her travel document, the PJ spokesperson said.
The case goes back to November 1, when the victim traveled to Macau to visit the casinos. During the trip, she met a man who requested a loan from her later that day, asserting that all his money was locked in his hotel room safe box.
The woman lent him HKD200,000 and together they played for around two days until they both lost all their cash.
On November 3, the woman went to the man’s room to request repayment of the money she had loaned him, but the man said he had no way to repay her. This sparked a conflict, and the woman said she would seek police assistance.
The suspect then stopped her from leaving the hotel room and locked the door, kidnapping her.
A second suspect then appeared, having been called by the first suspect, in order to ensure that the woman would not leave the room.
At around 8 p.m. the next day, the woman claimed she was starving and needed to eat. The first suspect permitted her to eat in a food and beverage venue at the hotel on the condition that she would be escorted at all times by the second man, and hand her travel document over to the first suspect.
After returning to the room, the second man went to the washroom. As the first suspect was not in the room at the time, the victim managed to escape and call for help from the authorities.
Upon commencing investigations into the case, the PJ verified that the suspects had already left Macau.
On November 17, when the first suspect attempted to reenter Macau, he was detained by the immigration authorities and handed over to the PJ. He was presented to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on the same day and charged with three crimes, including aggravated fraud, kidnapping, and illegal retention of a document belonging to another person.

Man accused of sexually harassing school girl
A 55-year-old restaurant waiter has been accused of sexually harassing a 14-year-old schoolgirl, the PJ reported.
The case occurred on November 9 around noon when, after classes had finished, the girl was heading home, walking by the Avenida de Horta e Costa.
According to the victim’s report, the man was walking behind the victim when he suddenly touched the victim’s buttocks.
The victim rushed home and told the mother about what had happened. They also decided to report the case to the girl’s school, which, through a communication mechanism between schools and the PJ, filed a complaint.
The PJ initiated an investigation and, through street surveillance camera footage, found and identified the suspect.
On the evening of November 13, the PJ located the suspect at his workplace and took him in for questioning.
The man told the PJ that he was careless and that the contact with the girl was unintentional. Nevertheless, the PJ has stated that it has evidence of the harassment and has forwarded the case to the MP.