The defendant Tsui Man-kit earlier pleaded guilty to four counts of obtaining property by deception and a count of attempt to obtain property by deception for selling the fake tickets on January 1, 12, and 14, to cheat about HK$73,300 from the five citizens.

Yet, she was busted by one of the buyers that the reference numbers on the four tickets, priced at HK$20,000, were all the same.

In West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts today, acting principal magistrate Veronica Heung Shuk-han said detention was the only appropriate sentencing option.

She referred to Tsui’s background report which detailed the drastic changes in Tsui’s family, and said she understood Tsui, as a good daughter, was willing to sacrifice herself to support the family.

Yet, Heung stressed the way Tsui handled her family crisis was a grave mistake, and passed down a rehabilitation center order, after having considered the report which spoke of Tsui’s positive background.

Earlier in mitigation, the defense cited the report that Tsui dropped out of a Taiwan school in 2021, despite her excellent academic performances, and returned to Hong Kong to support her family by taking up different jobs.

The report added that Tsui’s parent divorced in October 2019 and her father was severely indebted due to his failed business. Her father’s gambling debts also resulted in their home being sold and Tsui moving to a partition flat.

The report then suggested sending Tsui to either a rehabilitation center or a training center, and noted the former was the better option in Tsui’s case.