Three Men Jailed 40 Months For Stealing Toilet Rolls

Three men have each been sentenced to 40 months in prison after pleading guilty to robbing a supermarket of 600 rolls of toilet paper in February last year when the Covid-19 pandemic began.

The District Court heard that on February 17 last year, one of the defendants, Ho Chi-leung, threatened staff at a supermarket on Mong Kok Road with a knife, while two other defendants, Lee Yan-to and Lee Yip-tong, loaded 50 packs of toilet paper onto a trolley and fled.

Police recovered the stolen toilet paper rolls – worth HK$1,695 – from a nearby flat two hours later.

In handing down sentence on Thursday, Deputy District Judge David Cheung said there had been a run on daily necessities at the time and, as a result, toilet paper was much more expensive than usual.

He added that even though no one had been hurt, the defendants had clearly intended to commit the offence as they had made plans ahead of time. Cheung added the fact that one of the defendants carried a weapon also added to the severity of the case.