A 32-year-old lecturer was sentenced to two months in jail yesterday after she tried to use an elderly Octopus card at the Tai Wai MTR station, and presented someone else’s ID card when confronted by station staff
Chan Lai-yung, who lectures at the Caritas Institute of Higher Education, clearly does not appear over the age of 65, as far as we can tell.
The staff called the police when they found out that the person shown on the ID card she produced had four unpaid fines, reports the SCMP. Officers then found two student cards in Chan’s bag that also don’t belong to her.
Chan pleaded not guilty to three counts of theft, for the ID card and two student cards, and one count of presenting false identity.
Conducting her own defence during the trial (which is never a good idea), she claimed that the Octopus card was bought for her father, and that a student had given her the ID card she presented to MTR staff. In regards to the two student cards she had in her bag, she says she had found them and forgot to report them.
She claimed she was simply not paying attention when she tried to use her father’s card, and that she then “accidentally” produced the wrong ID card.
In addition to her jail sentence, she was fined HKD2,000 for the two stolen student IDs and was granted bail pending an appeal.
Photo: Andrew Currie via Flickr
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