HKUST campus theft case: man jailed five months after stealing two students’ laptops

A 35-year-old man has been jailed for five months after admitting to stealing two laptops from students at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, affecting two owners whose computers were worth HK$14,799 in total. The sentence was handed down at Kwun Tong Magistrates’ Court.

The defendant, Mo Tsz-fung, was reported to be a male waiter at a campus restaurant. He earlier pleaded guilty to two theft charges.

One laptop was stolen from the ground floor of LT-J on June 16, 2026. Three days later, another was taken from a temporary study room outside the Chiang Chen Lecture Theatre, according to the report.

The computers were valued at HK$5,499 and HK$9,300. Their reported owners were students To Yat-fan and Xu Ning. The report said Mo later sold the laptops to a second-hand electronics shop for HK$800; it did not give the date of the sale or identify the shop.

Acting Principal Magistrate Lee Chi-ho imposed the five-month sentence. The report said the court considered imprisonment unavoidable because the laptops were of high value.