Women face time on wrong side of bars
Two admit being paid to visit prisoners and telling officers they were friends of inmates
Two housewives are likely to face a "rather long" jail term after they admitted being paid to pose as prisoners' friends to visit them.
Liu Lirong, 33, and Shuai Shaoping, 29, pleaded guilty in Kwun Tong Court yesterday to one count of conspiracy to defraud. The women and seven other co-defendants had earlier pleaded not guilty in the first case of its kind.
But yesterday Liu and Shuai admitted defrauding prison officers by claiming to be friends of inmates they were visiting while in fact they did not know them and were being paid to do so.
Principal Magistrate Ernest Lin Kam-hung said he would most likely give them a jail term as a deterrent as the offences involved perverting the course of justice. "We need to pass on a clear message to the general public that such behaviour deserves serious punishment. The jail term would be rather long," Lin said.
The court heard that the pair worked for IPS-Care, a company which runs a business that arranges for people to visit inmates in the Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre at HK$120 each time, charging customers more if they wanted their "visitors" to pass on messages, food and daily necessities.
The company distributed leaflets outside the centre to promote its services. In four undercover operations in November and December 2011, officers pretended to be clients and Liu made three visits to prisoners on behalf of the officers.
Shuai was implicated in a sting operation where both the client and inmate were undercover officers.
