Caught taking an upskirt video of a woman at Domain mall in Yau Tong, the police sergeant demurred.
Off-duty at the time, he had meant to snap a photo of the Christmas tree, he claimed, according to testimony heard at Kwun Tong Magistrates Court yesterday, wrote Apple Daily.
But the excuse, claiming he’d accidentally hit the button to film while behind the woman on the escalator, didn’t work.
The 45-year-old married policeman, Chong Chi-keung, was yesterday convicted of committing an act of outraging public decency and sentenced to two months in prison over the incident on November 27 last year.
Released on bail to launch an appeal, the policeman now faces losing his job on the force.
Defense lawyers said Chong had been a police officer for years, that he was suspended from his job after he was arrested, and that he has lost more than HK$2 million (US$256,000) since his arrest.
They also argued that a prison term was not necessary given that this was an isolated incident.
The magistrate, however, did not buy Chong’s defense that he hit record by accident, saying that the video frame looked very steady, which suggests that he was intending to film an upskirt photo.
He’s not the first official caught surreptitiously snapping lewd pics.
Other offenders caught in Hong Kong have included a doctor and a former top medic with with the city’s Flying Service.
Worries about the offense prompted a political party earlier this year to release a list of danger spots where camera creeps may lurk.
The spots include the observation deck at Tsim Sha Tsui promenade, the Hong Kong International Airport, the Tsim Sha Tsui East and Kowloon MTR stations, and multiple shopping malls. All of them have reflective floors and/or escalators with transparent glass railings.
Keep vigilant.
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