Hong Kong blackmailer jailed for threatening to slay dog if owner did not pay HK$40,000 ransom
- Lau Tsz-kit locked up for 16 months after saying he would drown or chop up the poodle if payment failed to materialise quickly
- Magistrate calls the blackmail offence a ‘despicable act’ that had compromised trust in the Sham Shui Po neighbourhood
A former Hong Kong grocer has been sentenced to 16 months in jail for threatening to kill a stolen poodle if the owner did not pay a HK$40,000 ransom.
Lau Tsz-kit, 24, told his blackmail victim that he would throw the nine-month-old dog into the sea or chop the animal up in the absence of swift payment, behaviour the magistrate called “despicable”.
West Kowloon Court heard on Tuesday that Coffee the poodle was stolen from the 37-year-old owner’s shop in Sham Shui Po at about 1am on September 5.
The thief was said to be Lau’s accomplice, a man only identified as Ah Dai and still on the loose.
Three days later, the owner received the grisly threats to kill the dog via Facebook messages from an unknown person, later found to be Lau.
Police arrested the defendant outside his residence in Tin Shui Wai on September 11, when he was about to walk the poodle. Under caution, the former vegetable stall owner denied stealing the dog, but admitted sending the messages.
Lau, who pleaded guilty to blackmail in court last month, claimed Ah Dai paid him HK$500 a month to take care of the poodle, later accepting his offer of HK$5,000 to extort money from the owner.
