Inmate gets 16 months for plotting escape

A judge yesterday handed a 16-month jail term to a man who tried to break out of custody in July, chastising him for the plot which involved several teenagers.

Ngan Kwan-yiu, 22, was sentenced in District Court after earlier pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to escape from lawful custody.

Ngan was being held on other charges when he planned to break free with the help of his teenage girlfriend and others during a visit to a hospital. Correctional officers discovered the plan and managed to foil it.

The girlfriend and three others were jointly charged with Ngan. Two pleaded guilty. The girlfriend, Law Wing-tung, pleaded not guilty but was later found guilty. The fifth co-defendant was acquitted.

Ngan is currently serving time on a wounding charge in another case. Part of his new term will be served concurrently to the earlier one. Under the two sentences, he will serve a total of two years and eight months.

District Judge Gary Lam Kar-yan pointed out that the plot had involved youths.

"Ngan was the most culpable," he said. However it was unlikely that the plan would have succeeded, he said.