Banned beautician sent to prison for returning to HK

District Court in Wan Chai

A 49-year-old Filipina beautician was sentenced to two years in prison for coming back to Hong Kong although she had already been banned from the city.

District Court Judge D. Yau sentenced Lilia A. Joaquin to a total of 24 months after she pleaded guilty to violating her deportation order which had banned her from coming back here.

“She showed her total disregard for her deportation order not once but twice,” said Judge Yau in his ruling on March 22.

Joaquin, a beautician and make-up artist in the Philippines, said she came back to Hong Kong on June 26, 2017 to give support to her son, who had been arrested and jailed for theft.

However, Immigration Department officials had her arrested after they discovered that she had been issued a deportation order and was banned from HK. It turned out that Joaquin had racked up a total of 19 criminal offenses, including theft, in Hong Kong and had also returned illegally to the city in 2011.

The prosecutor said the other aliases Joaquin used to enter HK included Magdalena M. Ocampo, Joe A. Ramos, Evelyn Santos, and Jocelin Talao.

She was imprisoned for two years for coming back here in 2011. For her latest offense, Joaquin said she
paid money to a travel agency, which provided her with a new passport.

“She came back to support her son, who was arrested for conspiracy to steal,” said barrister Philip Ross, the Filipina’s defense counsel. He added that Joaquin was married with five children—three boys and a girl—but was separated from her husband in 2007.

“Although I do sympathize with her situation, that is not a mitigating circumstance,” the judge said. While Joaquin is now going to jail, Mr. Ross said the Filipina’s son had already been released and is now back in the Philippines.