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Clifford Lo

A sex offender is being hunted after indecently exposing himself yesterday to a group of schoolgirls outside a garden in Sau Mau Ping, the scene of one of a spate of recent similar offences.
The man exposed himself to four or five girls in Hong Lee Road at about 8am but fled before officers arrived.
A search was mounted but the suspect was not found.
Officers are now checking whether the incident is linked to six previous sex offences in the district, which led to the police being criticised for failing to promptly announce them to the public.
Police stepped up patrols and set up a special duty squad last week to investigate the crimes.
Kwun Tong district councillor Kevin So Koon-chung said yesterday: 'A series of flashing incidents has raised concern among the public, especially among females, in the district.'
He hoped police would capture the culprits as soon as possible. 
The suspect in yesterday's offence is thought to be aged between 30 and 40, about 1.6 metres to 1.7 metres tall with short hair. He wore black-framed glasses, a purple coat, blue shorts and a pair of flip-flops
The six previous offences, in which the victims were girls on their way to or from school, happened between September 15 and October 19, but police did not reveal details or issue warnings to the public until October 25.
One of the offences, on October 18, was committed at the same place as yesterday's incident.
Descriptions of the flashers indicated that at least two men were involved in three of the six cases.
One of the two men, who is thought to be aged between 50 and 60 and 1.74 metres tall, was responsible for indecently exposing himself to a Form Four girl twice at an outdoor car park in Hong Ning Road on October 4 and 19. Police said this man had pimples on his face. The other offender, who is about 1.67 metres tall, was responsible for the case on October 19.
Because of the incidents, police have stepped up patrols in the area and deployed plain-clothes officers to carry out anti-crime operations. 
A special duty squad headed by Sau Mau Ping divisional commander Superintendent Geoffrey Hill has also been set up.
Police have also come under fire recently for being slow to warn the public about a series of knife attacks in Tseung Kwan O and two sexual molestation cases in Kwun Tong. 
Police were criticised over the delay in warning the public while they attempted to use residents as 'bait' to catch the offenders. People in the affected areas said they were left in the dark about the dangers.
Police figures show that there were 926 reports of indecent assault across the city in the first eight months of this year, an 8 per cent drop from the same period last year.



Flasher strikes again in Sau Mau Ping