FDH, accused of hawking in HSBC, fined $600

Meet lucky Lyka.

Although she had no lawyer, a Filipino domestic worker accused of selling clothes at the HSBC building in Central was able to avoid conviction for hawking without a license.

Eastern Special Magistrate Robin Yue this afternoon acquitted Lyka  N.L. after the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that she was selling clothes when she was arrested by a Food and Environmental Hygiene (FEHD) officer in April.

However, the judge said there was enough evidence to convict her for causing obstruction in a public place and fined her $600.

“It was a suspected hawking activity as stated by (the FEHD officer). I remind myself that suspicion is suspicion. It is not beyond reasonable doubt,” Judge Yue said in his verdict.

Yue noted that the FEHD did not see Lyka transacting money with her alleged customer. The FEHD also did not recover a price list from the Filipina woman and, although the clothes recovered from her had price tags marked with “150 renminbi,” the prosecution did not submit additional evidence on this point.

“In order for the charge to be proven beyond reasonable doubt, the prosecution must prove there was business activity of some kind (but) there was no price list,” he added.

Investigators recovered from Lyka 34 clothes, two nylon bags, and a bundle of red plastic wrappers. Lyka told the court that she did not own them.

The FEHD officer who arrested Lyka said that he was in Chater Square when he noticed three women at the HSBC building along Des Voeux Road at around 9:53 a.m. on April 12, a Sunday. He said they were apparently hawking clothes on the sidewalk.

The officer walked closer to Lyka, to around 8 meters away, and saw her talking to a woman while holding some clothes in her right hand.

Suddenly, there was a scream and Lyka turned around and saw the officer. She immediately put the clothes inside the nylon bag, and ran away before she was apprehended, the officer said.

But according to the Filipina, she was looking for a spot to have lunch at the HSBC building—a favorite hangout of Filipino domestic workers on Sundays—when she was arrested.

“I was standing and holding my lunchbox when, suddenly, there was a commotion,” Lyka said through an interpreter.

Lyka said she saw a woman leave behind the two nylon bags beside her before running away.

Lyka said she decided to pick up the two nylon bags and ran after the woman to bring the clothes to her. However, the FEHD officer caught up with Lyka and arrested her. She insisted she was innocent.

“If I were selling, then I should have had money with me but all I had was $50 worth of loose change,” she said.

Judge Yue said Lyka’s $100 bail money could be deducted from her $600 fine for causing obstruction in a public place. He said the remainder should be paid within a month. However, Lyka asked that she be allowed to pay the remaining $500 in October.

“I’m sending two siblings to college,” Lyka said.

Judge Yue insisted that she pay it by September 26. The judge was very even-handed in conducting the trial, addressing Lyka as “Madame” and asking her questions so that she could better present her defense.

When Lyka felt cold inside the courtroom, the judge told an assistant to increase the room temperature. When she was sobbing after being told that she had a case to answer, the judge ordered a break so that she could collect herself and decide what to do next.

Observers also noted that Lyka was lucky because she was not charged with breach of condition of stay since she came to Hong Kong to work as a foreign domestic worker and was not allowed to take other forms of employment.