Man stole around MOP200,000 from girlfriend’s roommate

A young mainland woman recently fell victim to theft after her roommate’s boyfriend used duplicate keys to break into her room on two separate occasions and steal around MOP200,000.

The victim left the apartment on February 7, locking her bedroom door before departing to return to her hometown. When she returned to the residence at around 5 a.m. on February 23 and entered her room, she discovered that HKD170,000 stored in a drawer and a transparent plastic bottle that had been on the table and contained 19 gold nuggets were missing. She immediately reported the case to the Public Security Police (PSP), which later transferred it to the Judiciary Police (PJ).

The suspect, aware that he could not evade justice, surrendered to the PSP on the morning of the same day and was subsequently transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office on charges of aggravated theft and fraud.

Case details showed that the suspect was the boyfriend of one of the victim’s roommates and frequently visited Macau and stayed at the apartment in question. It is suspected that, without his girlfriend’s knowledge, he stole the apartment key and had a copy made.

The arrested mainland man, aged 39, claimed that on two separate occasions, when the apartment was unoccupied, he used a duplicated front door key and a fake bedroom key to enter the victim’s room to commit the theft.

He subsequently lost all the money – around HKD20,000 obtained from pawning the gold nuggets, along with the stolen HKD170,000 cash – through gambling. Ricaela Diputado