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Wednesday, 18th September.
IN CRIMINAL JURISDICTION.
BEFORE HIS HONOUR A. G. W185 (ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE).
ROBBERY WITH VIOLENCE,
Tam Cheung and Chan King pleaded not guilty to robbery with violence.
The following jury was empanelled:-E. Gibson, A. A. H. Milroy, H. Murray Bain, O. Ellis, G. R. Edwards, W. T. Showan, and F. de Paula Barros.
went
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
the back of her house. With regard to the second prisoner, according to the prosecutrix, on 1st June, some five or six weeks before the robbery, he came to her house and whitewashed it.
On that occasion he was three or four hours in the house, and on the night before the robbery he again did some whitewashing.
Evidence having been led, the jury, without learing the box, unanimously found both pri- soners guilty, and they were sentenced to three years' hard labour each.
ANOTHER ROBBERY WITH VIOLENCE.
Chun Cheung pleaded not guilty to a charge of robbery by two or more persons. The jury was the same.
Mr. Pollock said the robbery, an armed one, took place on 30th August at Homunteen, a small village on the Kowloon Peninsula. At seven o'clock on the evening of 30th August, the prosecutor, Liu Tsin, and his wife, Chan Kwai, with their two small children and a foki, were having their evening meal when a man came up to Liu Tsin and said-" Ah Tsin, brother, how are you? The prosecutor replied I am not very well." The man then threw some pepper in the eyes of the prosecutor, and wher the latter was thus rendered helpless he tied his two hands behind him with some twine.
The man also gagged the prosecutor. Four other men were working in concert with the first man, because five entered the house. Three were armed with choppers, and they struck the prosecutor on the shoulder and demanded his money. He to'd them he had none, and they ransacked the house and took away various articles of property belonging to the prosecutor and his wife. It fur- ther appeared that not only was the prosecu tor bound and gagged, but BO also was his wife, who was dragged into the kit chen and had taken from her arms a pair of jadestone bangles. The prosecutor was struck on the side the face with choppers, but was not seriously hurt. Of the five robbers he was able to identify the prisoner in the dock. His wife, however, who was very pro- bably frightened, and who had also had pepper thrown in her eyes, was unable to identify any of the robbers. On 31st August, the day follow ing the robbery, a man called at a pawn-shop in Queen's Road and pledged a pair of trousers, since identified by the prosecutor as his property The man who pledged the trousers was not the prisoner, but next day the latter called with the pawnticket to redeem the trousers. In- formation of the robbery had been conveyed to the police, who issued a warning to pawn brokers to be on the alert. The trousers tallying with the description supplied by the police of the stolen goods, the accountant of the shop detained the prisoner until a policeman arrived, when he was arrested and taken to the station.
The Hon. H. E. Pollock, K.C., Acting Attorney General, in detailing the caso to the jury, said the prisoners were charged upon one count, that together they committed a robbery upon the prosecutrix, a widow named Wong Ho, residing at 17, Hollywood Road, and rob bed from her the sum of $10 and various articles of jewellery. On the 10th July, at ten minutes to eleven in the morning, the pro- secutrix and her two daughters, one aged eight years and the other four years, were in the sitting-room on the second floor. Someono rang the bell, and the elder danghter went to the door and asked who was there. A voice replied Chap lau (stop leak), and the girl thereupon opened the door and admitted a man wearing a grey jacket, whom the pro secutrix had identified as being the first prisoner. Along with and following close on the first prisoner were two other men, one of whom was later indentified by the prosecutrix as being the second prisoner. The third man, the one not now in custody, opened a door leading up to the roof, and ascended thereto. The first prisoner squatted down and through some performance as if he were mix ing cement. The prosecutrix entered the back cubicle, and pointed out to the second prisoner, who had followed her, some leaks she wanted filled. The second prisoner suddenly turned upon the prosecutrix and struck her with his left hand, knocking her down. She called out Save life," and the second prisoner pressed her head down and held her by the throat. The first prisoner then entered and seized the pro- secutrix by the hand, and took a pair of bangles off her right arm. He then tried in a similar way to snatch the bangles off her left arm, but she told the men that if they would let her get up she would give them the bangles. They allowed her to rise, and the first prisoner took the pair of bangles off her left arm. The first prisoner then made the prosecutrix açcompany him into her sleeping room, and searched there. Inside a drawer he found a money box belong- ing to the two daughters of the prosecutrix. The second prisoner took the box into the back cubicle and emptied the few cents it contained into his pocket. The first prisoner conducted the prosecutrix into the sitting-room, and asked her to open a chest of drawers, which was locked. She at first refused, and the man pointed a revolver at her. Theu, being put in fear, the prosecutrix opened the chest of drawers, and the first prisoner took out a tin cash box, locked. He again pointed the re volver at the woman, and made her take out a key which opened the box. Inside the cash bor were two five dollar bank notes and some articles of jewellery, of all of which the first prisoner possessed himself Being informed by the prosecutrix that there was nothing more in the house, the first prisoner produced gag-a piece of wood with tape attached-and wasted to tie it over the woman's mouth. She begged The third and last case on the calendar was him not to do so, and, pointing the revolver at similar in effect to the two preceding cases. her, he said." If you bawl out I will shoot you Chung Fui, lately a servant boy, was charged to death." He also said—" If you will not call (1) with having on 18th August stolen one out I will not shoot you. Go iuto the cubicle," | silver_watch and chain, the property of one and he pushed the prosecutrix and her two | Mok Sai Hung, and (2) being srmed" with un daughters into a corner and left the house, offensive weapon, to wit, a revolver, did on 18th In the meantime, apparently, the second pri- | August_feloniously and violently carry away soner and the other man had gone; at all three silver watches, the property of the said events the prosecutrix saw nothing of them Mok Sui Hung. The prisoner pleaded not after the first prisoner left. Information was guilty, given to the police by the prosecutrix, and, later, she picked out the two prisoners from amongst a crowd of others at the Central Station. In connection with that identifica- | tion, it was an important fast, mid Mr. Pollock, Mr. Pollock maid the prosecutor was a dealer that the occasion of the robbery was not the in watches and clocks at 16, Bonham Strand. first time that the prosecutrix had soon these On 18th August, at half-past nine in the men. Three or four days before the robbery evening, the defendant came into the shop she noticed the first prisoner on the roof så 'and mid he wanted to buy a watch and chain.
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The prosecutor and his wife gave evidence, and were followed by the accountant at the pawnshop, the lukong who arrested the prisoner, Acting Captain Superintendent of Police Badeley, and a sergeant-interpreter at the Central Police Station.
In summing up, his Lordship said that although there undoubtedly had been a robbery. it appeared to him that the circumstances had been exaggerated.
Having regard to the unsatisfactory nature of the evidence, by a majority of six to one the jury found the prisoner not guilty, and he was discharged.
ARMED ROBBERY.
The following jury was empanelled:-J. A. V. Ribeiro, E. Eira, F. J. Rupprecht, A. F. Las, F. D. Barretto, P. M. F. da Luz, and T. Hunter.
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[September 23, 1901.
The prosecutor showed him a selection, and the defendant agreed to buy a watch and chain for $7.50. He put them in his pocket, and asked to be shown some others. The prosecutor laid three watches on the table, and the defen- dant then turned to the prosecutor's foki, who was in the shop, and asked him to fetch a glass of water. The foki departed to get the water, and the defendant picked up the three watches with his loft hand and pulled a six-chambered revolver out of his pocket with his right. He pointed the weapon at the prosecutor, and said
Will you give me these watches, and some more?" The prosecutor replied—” Let if be as they are." The foki just then re-entered the shop, and, taking in the situation, sprang at the defendant and seized the hand holding the revolver. The prosecutor, running from be- hind the counter, caught the defendant by the gnene, and a struggle ensued. Seeing the predicament he was in, the defendant knocked a burning lamp from the counter and set fire to a wooden box near the safe. The prosecutor and the foki got him on the ground, and the former cried out "Fire" and "Snatch things." A Chinese constable came in, and, after blow- ing his whistle, put his arms round the defen- dant and held him prisoner. A Sikh constable also arrived, and took the revolver from the defendant. He examined it, and found that it was loaded. The fire in the shop was extin- guished and the defendant was taken to the Police Station. It was not a case of a man trying to joke, said Mr. Pollock, picking up the revolver and handling it, because the revolver was loaded.
His Lordship-It is not loaded now, is it ? · Mr. Pollock-No, my Lord.
His Lordship-The reason I ask is that all the time you are flourishing it you are pointing it straight at me.
Mr. Pollock said it was loaded in six chambers,
but the cartridges had been extracted. The defendant's story at the Police Court was that he went into the shop intending to buy a watch and chain, but found he had not enough money. The master of the shop and the foki then set upon him, and the former upset the lamp with his elbow. The revolver, added Mr. Pollock, belonged to an officer of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, who would be called to prove that the defendant, whilst employed at the bar- racks, stole the weapon.
Stanley Jones, second lieutenant, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, deposed that the defendant was formerly his boy, and was in his service up till the 18th of last month. On the 19th witness saw him at the Police Court, where he was charged with stealing the revolver. It was part of the defendant's duty to clean the weapo 1.
Witness had no cartridges, and thẹ defendant might have obtained the cartridges in the barracks, or have bought them.
His Lordship Is that a service revolver? Witness-Yes, sir,
Mr. Pollock--Are these cartridges (produced) ordinary service cartridges ?
Witness-They are.
Other evidence was led, and the jury, without leaving the box, unanimously found the prisoner guilty on both counts of the indictment.
Asked if he had anything to say in his defence, the prisoner repeated the story be told
at the Police Court.
His Lordship (to interpreter) —Tell him that the point he has to explain to the jury is how he came to have a loaded revolver in his possession.
The prisoner said he went to show the revolver to a friend, but found him not at home. On the way back be went into the shop to buy
■ watch and chain. The revolver dropped out of his pocket when the prosecutor and his foki set upon him.
His Lordship-Is anything known about him? I mean to my he is a daring-looking boy; he is smiling all the time. I don't think he is at all a repentant sinner.
Mr. Pollock-I am instructed that_the_pri- soner is already undergoing a sentence of two months' imprisonment for stealing the revolver. I understand he was sentenced on the 19th of Angust.
In reply to a question as to whether he had anything further to my, the prisoner ssid he would leave the matter to "his Lordship's discretion.
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