Sentenced to 120 hours of community aid
A former head waiter at one of the city's most popular restaurants was given a community service order yesterday for tampering with his employer's computer system to avoid paying his own food bill at the restaurant during the Sars outbreak.
Eastern Court magistrate Anthony Yuen Wai-ming ordered Fong Yik-ming, 34, to serve 120 hours of community service after he admitted one charge of gaining access to a computer with dishonest intent and one charge of theft involving a food bill of $18,000.
The prosecution said Fong was head waiter at the Cafe Deco Bar and Grill at The Peak when the offences were committed between May 1 and July 2 last year.
Each waiter was issued with an 'e-card' to log on to the computer system to place orders for customers. The terminals were directly connected to the kitchen, bar counter and cashier counter.
The restaurant's business dropped substantially during the Sars outbreak. In early July last year, the management discovered that there was a design fault in the computer system, which enabled waiting staff to change the prices of the food and drinks with their e-cards.
