An Australian lawyer has been fined HK$3,000 (US$383) by a Hong Kong court after he admitted to fleeing a restaurant and a massage parlour without paying bills totalling about HK$1,200.
Samuel Anthony Monkivitch, 50, pleaded guilty at Eastern Court on Thursday to three charges, including two counts of making off without payment.
In the first case, he failed to pay for a HK$639 meal at a Times Square Chinese restaurant in Causeway Bay on March 23.
Two days later, he failed to pay a HK$586 bill for a massage service in Wan Chai.
The court heard that he told the masseur he only had HK$11 cash on him at the time. The evidence quoted him as saying: “I did not pay because my digital card was not working. That is my only payment.”
Although Monkivitch said he would return to settle the bill, he did not do so.
The lawyer was also charged with one count of common assault over a confrontation with a man who chased after him to Bowrington Market - about 400 metres (1,300 feet) from the Times Square restaurant - after he left without paying.
As the man started filming Monkivitch with his phone, the defendant threatened him: “Do you want your head smashed in?”
The two quarrelled, with Monkivitch striking the man’s left hand.
The Australian pleaded guilty to the common assault charge.
At Thursday’s hearing, Monkivitch represented himself and told Principal Magistrate David Cheung Chi-wai that he was currently unemployed and was in a “precarious position”.
“I have suffered serious reputation risk and I am not allowed to leave Hong Kong to pursue [a new job] in Australia,” he said in mitigation, adding that the criminal proceedings had worn him out.
“The economic cost to me has been enormous.”
Cheung fined him HK$1,000 for each charge and ordered him to pay back the businesses using his bail money.