Three Chinese nationals Yulong Xie, 27; Jiahui Wen, 37 and Yong Zhong, 39, from Jiangxi Province in China have been sentenced to three years in jail in Dominica for theft of EC$104,705.00 (US38,538) from ATM machines of the National Bank of Dominica NBD between July 5 and 9, 2016.
The three men arrived in Dominica in July, 2016 (separately) and booked at the Fort Young Hotel.
On July 7, 2016 the National Bank of Dominica (NBD) noticed that large sums of monies were withdrawn from two of its ATM machines in Roseau and became suspicious.
Upon checking surveillance cameras, bank officials saw it was done by the Chinese and alerted the police who went to the bank to secure the video recordings.
Further recordings revealed that the men operated mostly at nights.
The police, on July 8, 2016, mounted an operation during the night and spotted Xie and Wen at two ATMs and at the Royal Bank.
They were confronted and a search of their bags revealed a large amount of cash, magnetic strips and VIP cards. They were arrested and taken into custody for questioning.
A search warrant was executed on room 105 at the Fort Young Hotel where Zhong was met.
Three suitcases containing a case was found along with two laptop computers, 17 ATM Skimmers, two magnetic strip cards, reading and writing devices, 261 magnetic strip cards marked VIP were found.
Zhong was arrested on suspicion.
Also found were US$20,000, along with monies in EC, Hong Kong, Bahamian and Chinese currency, among others.
Investigations confirm that due the transactions conducted by the Chinese, NBD lost EC$104,705.00.
They pleaded guilty on January 10, 2017 to the charge of theft and were sentenced today January 19, 2017.
Bernadette Lambert and Wayne Norde represented the three.
In mitigating, Lambert told the court that “the men regretted their action and were willing to apologize to the people of Dominica”.
She asked the court not to impose a custodial sentence on them since “they had pleaded guilty at the first opportune time, had not wasted the courts, and have been in custody for six months since the offence.”
In handing down the sentence on the men, High Court Judge Victoria Charles-Clarke said the trio “carefully planned the matter; it was serious and very sophisticated”.
“They had no legitimate business in Dominica. They were caught red handed and such behavior could have had a negative effect on the banking institution in Dominica with customers losing confidence in the bank and withdrawing their funds. The actions of the men had an international appeal. That could have also affected the reputation of the bank. In the circumstances, such behavior deserves a custodial sentence,” Justice Charles-Clarke said.
The maximum penalty for theft in Dominica is 10 years in jail.
Charles-Clarke set her notional sentence at six years but because of the early guilty plea, she gave them the required 1/3 discount bringing it to 4 years.
Since all the money was recovered, she removed one year and sentenced them to three years each commencing July 2016.
She ordered them deported after serving their jail time and also ordered compensation of EC$5,652.87 to the NBD to be paid in six months or in default six months in jail. The EC$104,705.00 was ordered returned to the bank.
What well the door is wide open for foreigners to steal in Dominica.Unfortunately if this was a Dominican the so called justice system would throw the keys away for minimum 20 years I’m sure….Goodness me.Gader lavi Domnic.
Feed them there cultural meat dog meat, so there belly will be full, how there you steal our money, a small Island struggling to pay there debt like paving our roads excreta. 20 yrs would be appropriate the judge was lenient, as always, I hate when they say they pleaded guilty cus they did not waist the courts time what kind of none sense is that?, we pay the court so what is that [ wasting the court time .
They seem not to care too much about sleep when they were busy stealing in the middle of the night. If they had been sleeping they would not be in trouble with the law.
That’s a decent balance of deprivation of liberty for the Crime, considering that all the money was recovered. Plus you don’t want to be supporting these guys in Jail with state funds for an extended period..it’ll be a loss for Dominica.
On a positive note this surely helped the Bank beef up it’s security operations.
Good police work, deportation should be at their own expense and let us hurry so that the tax payers do DA don’t have to feed them.
Good Job Police. Good Job NBD.
Ask them to pay the fine,then deport them!
Ask them to pay the fine,then deport them! Don’t let them come to Dominic forever!
But isn’t DA a Province of China? So the guys must a thought it is like back on the mainland. In any case China has spent so much money in DA so they must have felt entitled to take a little back. lol
Who told them it was easy to rob a bank in Dominica, the same bank consistently and get away with it? Today, with technology, it is not so easy. They must have done a research on D/ca which is why they came to D/ca. These people do not hesitate to use the internet to get information..
At least all NBD’s money was recovered.
I visualize the case had to be called as soon as possible. Look at it this way. Remember they are Chinese. The Chinese government assists D/ca. Therefore, where these men are concerned, a special concession was probably given to them for the hearing as soon as possible.
Anyway, they will remain in prison for three or four years. The thought, they may be released sooner for good behavior.
They got time off for pleading guilty and not wasting the Court’s time? Real stupidity.
They should have been given the maximum, 10 years.
Who will pay for their deportation? The Chinese government I hope.
If a native Dominican had done this sort of thing in Dominica, no doubt we would be looking at a minimum of 7 years, especially if he was not connected to the carbal. If a Dominica n had done that in China we would be looking at 15 years plus deportation. I wonder if due delegence was done before they were allowed to come to Dominica?
Please do not use these words of the Catholic prayer in vain and as a mockery. These Chinese are non-believers.
J.J Jno Charles used it some time ago..
The prayer is called the Penitential Act, prayed at the beginning of Holy Mass.
The Priest says: Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the Sacred Mysteries.
The Priest and congregation pray: I confess to Almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. Therefore, I ask Blessed Mary Ever Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord, our God.
The Priest says: May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins and bring us to everlasting life. Amen!
Then we pray, Lord, have mercy, Christ have mercy . . .
To be prayed with homage.
Is is not so wrong that we have police officers languishing in jail on remand, and no one is keeping their plight alive. Please remember justice delayed is justice denied.
So the courts didn’t account for the interest lost on the sum?
Thumbs up to the Dominica Police for quick and successful operation
not enough
That court case call almost as soon as they complain about prison conditions. Is this fair to other people that been waiting there longer and case cannot call yet? SMH….unfair system.
The prisoners were called to shut them up. Maybe other people in prison longer are not making enough noise.
Anyway, The Commonwealth of Dominica owes them nothing.
Do you have a Prisoners Bill of Rights in Dominica? If you robbed a bank in China you would be risking execution.
Sincerely, Rev. Donald Hill
Eyes will remain open to ensure they are not snicked out of the country.
Open your eyes to ensure that you can spell SNEAK properly
They were not given enough…I would give each of you 10 years! VOLEH!
but wait.. if they get deported who pays the bill??
Let them back China. They don’t belong to here.
Please let them go back China! They are not belong Dominic!
even saying didn’t get enough food and sleep!! ….shouldn’t be getting no sleep and food at all..had it been a Dominican they would have given them 50 years in prison…let them pay the money back
More time than some rapists.
Well well well….what about the stolen money?
was it re-payed or was it recovered?
three years for that amount…i work every day and cant save this amount at the end of the year….
You must be my twin brother Mr. ZandoliE.
All You leave China and come down all de way to Dominica to steal money? Well ebeh all you brave…..caught red handed. Cheng cheir Wong to all of you…..accept our sympathy..enjoy your sweet time in prison…..
Were they asked to REPAY the stolen monies?
HOTEP!
Did you read?
Here’s a quote from the article “Since all the money was recovered, she removed one year and sentenced them to three years each commencing July 2016.”
Here’s another quote from the article: “The EC$104,705.00 was ordered returned to the bank.”
Notice the part that reads, “…Since ALL THE MONEY WAS RECOVERED, she removed one year and sentenced them to three years each commencing July 2016…”
enough food and sleep!
Funny right!!.