Burglar escapes with cash, jewellery from Hong Kong home of Australian consul general
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 30 April, 2015, 1:31pm
UPDATED : Friday, 01 May, 2015, 4:26am
Clifford Lo [email protected]
A policeman outside the consul's residence.Photo: SCMP Pictures
Australia's consul general in Hong Kong, Paul Tighe, became the latest victim in a string of high-profile burglaries, when jewellery and several thousand dollars in cash were stolen from his official residence in Deep Water Bay yesterday.
Paul Tighe. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Tighe, who arrived in the city in 2011, and his wife were at the three-storey house on Island Road when the burglary occurred in the early hours.
Officers combed the area after they were called in. So far, no one has been arrested. Police are still trying to establish the value of the stolen jewellery.
The Australian consulate confirmed the break-in, saying: "Hong Kong police have responded to an unauthorised intrusion at the official residence of the consul-general of Australia. No one was injured during the incident."
The consulate expressed thanks to the force, and said no further statements would be issued as the matter was subject to a police investigation.
The break-in was discovered at about 6.30am, when Tighe woke up and found one of the rooms in his home had been ransacked. He then called police.
"The room's window was prised open," a police source said, adding that a burglar probably climbed over the surrounding wall of the house from a construction site next door and entered through the window.
He said officers were checking whether security cameras had captured the intruder. "We will enhance patrols in the area," the source said.
The break-in at Tighe's home is the latest in a string of burglaries to hit the exclusive area this month.
On April 3, a 19-year-old mainland man was caught allegedly trying to break into the Deep Water Bay home of Asia's richest man, Li Ka-shing. The suspect was charged with attempted burglary and illegally entering and staying in the city.
Three days later, on April 6, there was an attempted break-in at the three-storey home of Indian consul general Prashant Agrawal in Black's Link, Happy Valley. Nothing was stolen and no one was arrested.
On January 19, two houses in Black's Link Villa, 100 metres from Agrawal's home, were burgled.
Burglars have also targeted luxury homes on The Peak and in Southern District neighbourhoods in recent months.
However, police figures suggest the high-profile cases don't represent a citywide trend. They show overall burglary cases reported in the city dropped by 24 per cent - from 3,573 in 2013 to 2,700 last year.
