An Australian man has been remanded in custody and hit with fresh charges in Hong Kong for fleeing restaurants without paying more than HK$2,000 (US$255) in bills, just a day after being fined for similar offences.
Samuel Anthony Monkivitch, 50, was detained soon after pleading guilty at Eastern Court on Thursday to three charges – two of failing to pay HK$1,200 in bills at a restaurant and a massage parlour, and one of common assault.
He was fined HK$3,000 and ordered to use his bail money to pay the amounts owed to the two businesses.
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After paying his fine and leaving the courthouse, he was immediately intercepted by two men believed to be plain-clothes police officers and taken away in a vehicle.
On Friday, Monkivitch – who earlier described himself as a “lawyer” but now called himself a “legal consultant and merchant” – reappeared in court. He was accused of leaving four dining outlets between April 24 and May 5 with the intent of avoiding bills totalling HK$2,039.
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In the first of the new cases, Monkivitch targeted a Chinese restaurant in Central, where he allegedly made off without settling a HK$284 bill.