Veteran Pinoy pickpocket arrested at HK international airport
Hong Kong International Airport
A District Court judge sentenced a 62-year-old Filipino farmer to a total of four years in prison after he was caught pick-pocketing in Hong Kong for the ninth time.
District Court Judge David John Dufton on September 7 convicted Rodolfo D. Amigo after the Filipino pleaded guilty to attempted theft and breach of deportation order.
Amigo was “banned for life” from Hong Kong after he was deported in 1986 but he was able to slip back into the territory 12 times using other names and passports.
“No one-third (discount)? Four years? No one-third?” a bewildered Amigo said after hearing his total prison sentence of four years.
Judge Dufton explained that he had already been given a one-third discount for his guilty plea and that his sentence of two years and eight months for breach of deportation order was already on the “lighter side.”
Court records showed that another convict who breached his deportation order for the 5th time was imprisoned for three and a half years wile another defendant, who broke it for the 7th time, was given a jail sentence of four years.
Amigo, who illegally entered Hong Kong the 12th time, was sentenced to only two years and eight months for violating his deportation order.
“If you decide to break into Hong Kong again, you’ll get a much higher prison term,” Judge Dufton said.
The Filipino arrived here on May 28 as a tourist and had a Cebu Pacific ticket for a return flight on June 1.
But on May 30, two policemen noticed him acting suspiciously outside a bakeshop in Terminal 1 of the Hong Kong International Airport.
Amigo went inside the bakeshop and, using his coat as cover, he opened the rucksack of an American businessman.
The businessman, who was waiting for his flight for Malaysia, had left his rucksack and suitcase on one of the bakeshop’s tables.
Amigo took out the businessman’s passport holder from the rucksack and went out of the bakeshop. Outside, he opened the passport holder and saw that it only contained the businessman’s passport and boarding pass.
After this discovery, he went back inside the bakeshop and left the American’s passport holder on top of a food tray. The police officers, who had been observing the Filipino, arrested him.
After a fingerprint check, it was discovered that Amigo had been banned from Hong Kong since September 16, 1986.
However, he was still caught 11 more times (not counting the latest incident) inside Hong Kong. He also had eight theft convictions, all related to pickpocketing.
Amigo’s other aliases included Ronald L. Reyes, Ronald Lopez Reyes, Mario S. Puno, Mendoza S. Romulo, Ricky S. Amigo, Alvin S. Layo, Sosa Mark Razon, Natividad Arnaldo, Rodolfo Valencia Villota,Isidoro Nido Malabanan, Renato Belano Pitong, Aldo Balingit Dela Cruz, Ferdinand Valencia Villota, Villota Rodolfa Valencia, Villota Rodolfo, Natividad Arnaldo, Romulo S. Mendoza, Rickys Amigo, Malbanan Isidro Nido, and Razon Sosa Maek.
Amigo’s lawyer said the defendant, who has six children, was remorseful about what happened and that he came back to Hong Kong only because his daughter died after she fell ill.
The lawyer said Amigo had to take care of his five grandchildren that his late daughter left behind.
The lawyer also said that Amigo earned $2,500 a month from his farm but he had to mortgage it to pay for his daughter’s medical bills. He then lost his farm when he could no longer pay the loan.
“There was no other way for him to raise money…He is very remorseful and promises not to come back to Hong Kong. He apologizes for the wrong done to the victim,” the lawyer said.
With Amigo in prison, his five grandchildren are now under the care of their grandmother, the lawyer added.