Beijing - Eight men who kidnapped a Hong Kong fashion heiress and
held her in a cave as they negotiated a multi-million-dollar ransom were
sentenced to up to 15 years in prison on Friday, a mainland court said.
Queenie
Rosita Law, the granddaughter of late
textiles tycoon Law Ting-pong, who founded the Bossini clothing chain, was
abducted from her house in Hong Kong in April last year.
The
29-year-old was held in a mountain cave for four days before family members
paid a ransom of HK$28 million (R51 million) for her release. Most of the gang
fled to mainland China afterwards, where they were captured.
Six of
plaintiffs were found guilty of abduction, while two others were charged with
disguising or concealing illegally obtained gains, a Shenzhen Intermediate
People's Court spokesman told AFP.
Ringleader
You Dunkui was sentenced to 15 years for
kidnapping, with the others being given terms ranging from 13 years to just
under two, he said.
Another
gang member, Zheng Xingwang, was sentenced to 12 years by a Hong Kong court
last month, having admitted to forcibly taking or detaining a person with
intent to procure a ransom.
Law and
her boyfriend were asleep at her house in the quiet coastal area of Clearwater
Bay when a gang of six mainland Chinese men raided the house, tied them up and
taped over their mouths, Zheng's Hong Kong trial heard.
They
stole jewellery and cash from two safes, after forcing Law to give them the
combinations.
She was
tied to one of the gang members, who carried her on foot to a hillside cave 90
minutes' walk away while the boyfriend was told to notify her father of the
ransom demand.
Hong
Kong police embarked on a massive operation to hunt down the suspected
kidnappers, deploying hundreds of heavily armed officers, helicopters and
marine vessels, and setting up roadblocks.
Almost
all of the money has been recovered, including some buried on hillsides near
the cave where she was taken.
Hong
Kong has low crime rates but has seen some high-profile kidnappings, including
the abduction of one of city tycoon Li Ka-shing's
sons in 1996, who was released after his father reportedly paid a ransom.
