A man nearly caused his elderly father to be jailed by failing to renew his dependant visa to stay in Hong Kong for more than three years.
Jerykson de Leon, 27, pleaded guilty at Shatin Magistrates Court on Wednesday to breaching the condition of his stay while his father, a Taiwanese man Li Chi-hung, 67, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the breach, sunwebhk.com reported.
Magistrate Wong Sze-lai sentenced the younger man to 16 days in prison, suspended for a year, while his father was sentenced to two months in jail, suspended for 18 months.
The court heard that De Leon is Li’s child with a Filipina who decided to take the boy back to the Philippines at a young age. In 2010, De Leon came to Hong Kong to join his father.
The defense lawyer said the father, a night-shift security guard, was aware his son’s visa was due to expire in February 2016 and had reminded him to apply for an extension. He had given his son HK$1,000 (US$127) to renew the visa.
However, his son failed to do that because he’d lost his passport and Hong Kong identity card and had not replaced them.
Early this year, the father went to the Philippine Consulate to apply for a new passport for his son and accompanied him to Immigration to surrender for having overstayed.
The magistrate reprimanded the young man for his laziness after he was convicted.
“You overstayed in Hong Kong. You are lazy. You are a young person, you have to work and you must not just lie idle inside the house,” Wong said.
Tama iyong judge tama at iresponesable iyong anak
Tama iyong judge tama at iresponesable iyong anak