1.

Article 147 of the Penal Code provides that threat is a semi-public offence. First of all, the victim or his/her legal counsel should report the crime to the judiciary, and request for a criminal liability. The criminal proceedings against the offender will be based on the complaint. On the other hand, Article 107 of the Penal Code provides that the right to report a semi-public offence shall last until the crime prescribes. However, the party who is entitled to request for a criminal liability shall exercise his/her right within 6 months term, as of the date of the offence or the one that he knew about the facts.
In the case in point, the threat had occurred in the beginning of the last year, which means more than six months ago and, consequently, you are no longer entitle to file a complaint related to that incident.

2.

In abduction cases the culprit uses violence, threat or trick to seize a person with the intent to: submit the victim to extortion; commit an offence against the victim's sexual freedom and self-determination, obtain ransom or compensation, compel the public authority or a third person for an action or omission, or to back up an activity. These characteristics are not applicable to cases of illegal imprisonment. In these cases what it needs is the intention to deny freedom to a third person.
Hence, when the victim is taken to the place where the loan shark denied him/her freedom, with the intent to extort by means of violence, treat or means of persuasion, the crime is classified as abduction. When the victim is taken to the place where he/her was denied freedom without the use of violence, threat or trick, the crime is classified as illegal imprisonment. .

3.

As a matter of fact, cases that involve lending money amongst friends are not unusual. However, any person who borrows money and knowingly, right from the beginning and at the time that the loan was taken, that he/she would not pay it back and vanish from the creditor to avoid reimbursement might have breached the law. In short, we will say that he or she who intentionally fails to repay a debt, causing asset damages to a third party as a result, is liable to be charged with deception.
According to the provisions of the >Penal Code, deception takes place when a person deliberately tries to accrue illicit gains for himself/herself or for a third party and/or orchestrate techniques to induce other persons in error or mislead them to do something that would cause asset damages to themselves or someone else.
It ought to be mentioned here that deception is a semi-public offence, meaning that the plaintiff must provide evidence to support his/her claims that the debtor had previously intended not to pay back the money involved when he/she asked for a loan. Should the debtor have the intention to reimburse when the loan was taken, and after that he/she finds himself/herself in a situation that makes him/her unable to repay, it will not be a crime if he/she vanishes to avoid repayment. In these circumstances, the creditor must proceed in a civil lawsuit to claim damages.

4.

It is not a wrongdoing when family members and friends get together at home to enjoy themselves playing mah-jong on public holidays. However, you must be careful not to be too noisy and should avoid disturbing others in any way.
Law No. 8/96/M governs the Illegal Gambling. This piece of legislation provides that those who play mah-jong after mid-night, and disturb the peace and rest of the neighbourhood with noise or in any other way might be liable to prosecution. This type of behaviour is deemed to be an administrative offence, and the offender is liable to imprisonment for a maximum 1 year term, and the others involved are liable to a fine of up to MOP$1.000,00. This figure will be twice as much in cases of contumacy.
We shall also bring to light that any person who plays mah-jong with intent to make profits, even if it happens in a private house, is liable to be jailed for up to 1 year or face a fine. Players are also liable to a fine of MOP$10.000,00.
Let's recall that one must be careful not to make noise while playing mah-jong in a private house so as to avoid disturbing others and breaching the law. Above all, keep away from illegal gambling.

5.

According to the provisions of the Criminal Code, Article 147: “Any person who threatens another with killing, assault; deprivation of personal liberty or sexual self-determination, or assets of considerable value; use adequate means to cause fear or unrest, or harm his/her freedom of choice”, constitutes an offence of threat.
Still on the same subject, and in spite of the fact that the perpetrator didn't actually use any kind of violence, but simply made a verbal threat by saying: “I'll kill you!” one must take into account the definition of the offence “actual threat”, as provided by the Criminal Code. Considering that the wording of the perpetrator actually caused fear and unrest to the person to whom they were addressed, we would say that we are probably dealing with a case of actual threat, which is a criminal offence.
We therefore appeal to the citizens to seek help to this Police, should they find themselves in similar situations and, under extreme circumstances, they may also call the Public Security Police to come to their aid, so that they can promptly get the situation under control.

6.

In cases of domestic violence, the victim (and the victims are predominantly women) normally feels that one “should keep family scandals undisclosed”, and thus chooses to put up with them instead of filing a complaint with the police. This is the sort of secrecy that makes it impossible for the law enforcement agencies to come to the victims’ aid. Should you become a victim of violence, do not be afraid of any kind of discrimination. Instead, you should be game enough to seek help from social workers or institutions that provide social services, so that experts in this field can provide counseling to your aggressor, find out the motives of his behavior, and assist him to learn to control his feelings. This would help to solve his problem once and for all. Still on this subject, it ought to be borne in mind that violence, per se, is a criminal offence, and it might pose risks to one’s entire family. Having said this, and should the victim come across with threatening situations, she/he shall, in due course, file a complaint with the police, in order to safeguard her/his own well-being and those of the family members, respectively.

7.

Online shopping inevitably is convenient for people to shop from their homes. However, unscrupulous people will use the internet as a channel to sell stolen items or carry out scams. Thus, we suggest that when shopping online, if the price of the product is found much lower than the normal price, or when the seller cannot show his/her real identity, or even refuses to provide the basic source or information of the product, the general public should be more alert and avoid buying the product which may be obtained illegally. It can be just a scam, and the buyer may not be able to obtain the product after payment. If anyone fell prey to scam unfortunately, the case should be reported to the police immediately. Never give up the right to report because it is troublesome or the amount being cheated is not much. To protect one’s own rights and interests, the general public should consider shopping at shops with credibility that protect the customers’ rights to demand repayment.

8.

According to the Penal Code, abusing minors is a criminal offence, and it is a public crime, that means anyone can report it to the police. Hence, when child abuse is suspected, the general public can call our report hotline 993 to seek help. Once we have received the report, we will investigate, in the light of law, whether there is a child abuse crime or not. Moreover, the general public can also inform the child’s teacher, or contact the concerned social worker to follow up.

9.

There is similar regulation in the Penal Code. Article 146 defines “the offence of torturing the minor, the incapable or spouse or cause exhaustion to such personnel”. Paragraph 1 indicates the 4 specific types of torture against such personnel: (1) Impose physical or mental torture, or cruel treatment; (2) Use such personnel to conduct dangerous, inhuman or banned activities; (3) Assign excessive workload to cause exhaustion; (4) Not provide care or aid as obligated by one’s own duty.
It is necessary to emphasize that no. (4) refers to the situation of seriously and intentionally not providing fundamental needs (such as sufficient food and beverage, clothing, accommodation, education and medical care) in long run which results in the damage or harm to their physical and mental health or development, or causes them great danger under evitable circumstances (including starvation and coldness, failing of proper care over long period of time).
As for the penalties, paragraph 1 stipulates that violation of this paragraph is subjected to 1 year to 5 years of imprisonment. Paragraph 3 stipulates that if the fact causes severe physical impairment, 2 years to 8 years of imprisonment shall be sentenced. Paragraph 4 stipulates that if the fact causes one’s death, the penalty shall be increased to 5 years to 10 years of imprisonment.

10.

The concept of child neglect had been explained in the last edition. It refers to the severe or long-term intentional negligence of the fundamental needs of the minor. Any parents, who are not at home for a long time or even lock the main gate and leave their young children at home unattended are considered “negligence of care”, thus constituting the offence of “Torturing of the minor”.
As for the situation of leaving young children at home whilst momentarily going out, it is a violation of Article 142 (Involuntary impairment to integrity of body) of the Penal Code if such act causes the impairment or serious harm to the integrity of the body of the children. It is subjected to a maximum of 2 years or 3 years of imprisonment or a fine. If such act causes the death of the children, the parents are liable to the violation of Article 134 (Involuntary manslaughter) of the aforementioned code and are subjected to a maximum 3-year imprisonment. If it is considered as a major fault, the maximum term of 5-year imprisonment may be sentenced.
In fact, if the parents do need to leave home to take care of some business, they should bring along their children or they should request relatives, neighbours or community service organization (if any) to look after them momentarily on their behalf. Never take chance to leave the children at home unattended. It might not only violate the law, as soon as an accident happens, it would also cause the unredeemable remorse that one regrets for the whole life.

11.

According to Article 8 of Law no. 17/2009 Forbidding illicit production, sale and consumption of narcotic and psychotropic drug which took effect on 10 September, 2009, the person’s friend offered drug to other person without authorization from competent authorities constituted a violation of illicit sale of narcotics. If the drug is listed in table 1 to table 3 of the aforementioned law, it is subjected to 3 years' to 15 years' imprisonment. If it is listed in table 4, it is subjected to 6 months to 5 years imprisonment. According to Article 12 of the same law, abetting a person for the illicit consumption of drug is a criminal offence. If it is a table 1 to table 3 drug, it is subjected to a maximum of 3 year' imprisonment or a fine. If it is a table 4 drug, it is subjected to a maximum of 1 year' imprisonment or maximum of 120 days fine.
Therefore, in the abovementioned example, offering and abetting other person to consume illicit drug have already committed the abovementioned two offences. The Macao Judiciary Police urge this particular person and his friend to report to us timely and assist in collecting the evidence. There is one more important point, this person must at once stay away from such bad companies before getting into further trouble.

12.

According to Article 214 of the Penal Code, deliberately issuing a noncashable cheque constitutes a crime of issuing rubber cheque. The applicable prerequisite is that the cheque bearer abides the regulation of Article 1240 of the Commercial Code i.e. failing to cash a cheque as a result of insufficient deposit while processing it within 8 days counting from the cheque issuing date. Therefore, in regard to cheque(s) issued and payable in Macao, if the bearer requested the bank to cash the cheque(s) within 8 days after receipt of the cheque(s) but discovered that the cheque(s) could not be cashed, the bearer should request the bank to write or stamp “Insufficient fund” on this cheque and pursue criminal and civil liability against the issuer.
However, the bearer in this case has failed to cash the cheque within the legal 8-day limit, thus failing to meet the time frame for criminal pursuit. As a result, it is only feasible to pursue the civil liability i.e. to initiate legal proceeding at the court so as to pursue for the liability of the issuer.

13.

According to statistics, the police cracked down 8 false marriage cases between January to July 2009. The Macao residents involved in these cases, due to greed, had married personnel from Mainland China for a reward ranging from ten thousand to tens of thousands of patacas in order to help them to obtain Macao residency by cheating. According to Article 18 of Law no. 6/2004 Illegal entry, illegal stay and deportation law, false marriage for the intent to assist any person to obtain legal document (including Hong Kong and Macao entry permit, Macao resident identity card, etc.) to enter, stay or live in the Macao Special Administrative Region constitutes the crime of document forgery. A penalty of 2 to 8 years' imprisonment may be sentenced. Those who, subsequently, use or possess those forged documents, may be subjected to a maximum of 3 years' imprisonment. Furthermore, according to Article 20 of the aforementioned law, any person who allows another person who intends to illegally enter or stay in the Macao Special Administrative Region through false marriage to use or possess his/her identification document, as well as any person who uses other’s identification document for the same purpose, the maximum penalty of 3-year imprisonment shall be sentenced.
The Macao Judiciary Police hereby urge all citizens not to engage in false marriage out of the greed for money or other interests so as to avoid breaching the law.