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Family of thieves jailed for Hong Kong shoplifting spree

Other News Materials 7 January 2009 07:59 (UTC +04:00)

A thieving Hong Kong family of three with 33 previous convictions between them were beginning jail terms Wednesday after going on a shoplifting spree together, dpa reported.

Hui Siu-loi, 51, his wife Wong Hau-wan, 54, and their son Hui Ka-chun, 36, were arrested after they wheeled a shopping trolley full of milk powder, medicine and shampoo out of a supermarket.

The three scattered when a store manager and a policeman chased them and the father drove his car over the policeman's foot trying to flee, the South China Morning Post newspaper reported.

At a hearing Tuesday, the father was jailed for 12 months and the wife and son for five months each after all three were convicted of theft. The father was also convicted of an offence of furious driving.

The court was told that the father had 21 previous convictions, including 10 for theft, while the wife had six previous convictions, three of them for theft. The son had six previous convictions.

Magistrate Amy Chan noted that each member of the family played a different role in the theft but that they "acted in concert to commit the same crime."

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