A married theology student has been sentenced to 10 months behind bars after forcing a 14-year-old girl to send him nude photos of herself.
Chow Pak-kuen, 31, was handed the jail sentence at Tuen Mun Magistrates’ Court this morning after pleading guilty to two counts of criminal intimidation, one count of possession of child pornography, and two counts of aiding, abetting, counseling, and procuring the making of child pornography.
According to Apple Daily, Chow first met the girl over Chinese messaging app WeChat in July 2016, where he persuaded her to send him nude photos of herself.
The pair ceased contact for a while until June 2017, when Chow messaged her demanding more nude photographs, and threatened to post her previous nude snaps online if she failed to do so.
She obliged, but later told her mom and the police about the incident.
The court heard that Chow had forced the teen to send a total of 23 photographs and six videos featuring the girl’s face, body, and genitals.
Chow’s wife stepped forward as a character witness, saying that her husband was a family man, who was under a lot of pressure during his theology studies, and had been suffering from insomnia for years. She added that he was working as a substitute teacher, and that his boss also put a lot of pressure on him. Did we mention that he was under pressure?
Funny how workplace “pressure” doesn’t compel most people to blackmail children into sending nude photos but, hey, Hong Kong is a pressure-filled kind of place. Case in point, a pair of 2018 sentencings in which the perpetrators blamed pressure from their mother and their workplace, respectively, for their penchant for taking “upskirt” photos of young women.
Chow has since been expelled from the college after reports of his crimes became public.
The defense also read a statement from one of Chow’s former students, who described the defendant as an excellent teacher and leader. So he’s got that going for him.
Former classmates of Chow also said in a statement that Chow was a good man, who once stopped a teenager from committing suicide.
The defense argued that a social service order was an appropriate sentence, and would give Chow enough time to rehabilitate.
But magistrate Ivy Chui Yee-mei disagreed, citing a psychological report on Chow which said that he could re-offend, HK01 reports.
She added that the victim’s young age also makes his crime even more serious, and that a social service order was not efficient enough to reflect the seriousness of his crimes.
She added that it was the responsibility of the court to protect children, and that the 10-month sentence should deter others from committing similar crimes, and added that she hopes Chow seeks counseling after he’s released from jail.
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