Policemen 'destroyed' upskirt clips
Saleswoman says she was threatened with arrest as she tried to hand in a memory card she found
Two policemen destroyed a digital memory card containing upskirt clips that a woman took to the Wan Chai police station, a court heard yesterday.
Sergeant Cheung Chun-wo, 44, and police constable Chong Kwok-chun, 31, also allegedly threatened to arrest saleswoman Choi Choi-wa and persuaded her to leave the station without lodging any reports, Eastern Court was told. The pair, who have pleaded not guilty to one count of misconduct in public office, are also alleged to have suggested to Choi, 24, that she make a false statement to other police stations and to have failed to make a record of her visit.
Choi told the court yesterday that she found the card on the cashier's desk of a convenience store at Kwai Fong MTR station in January 2011. She took it away, thinking it was hers.
Although she realised a few days later she was mistaken, she did nothing with the card until December 13 that year, when she opened it and found it contained about 50 upskirt clips. She randomly opened 10, and found that one had been taken at an escalator at Langham Place, Mong Kok, and another in an MTR carriage.
On December 14, 2011, Choi went to the Wan Chai police station, where the two officers took her out of the station, and Cheung asked why she had brought the card. "I said: 'I want the police to keep a record. If the guy is later arrested, the police will know he has shot such videos,'" she said. "Then Cheung said: 'Even if we arrest these people 10 times, and put them into jail 10 times, they will still continue … Now we have to arrest you before arresting that guy.'"
The court heard that Cheung later advised her not to keep the card, and tore it up with Choi's approval. They also suggested that if she reported the matter at other police stations she should say she found the card the day before making the report, Choi said. Sze Ka-bo, the first officer to meet Choi at the station, said it was "bizarre" detectives took her away without recording her report as it was deemed a criminal case.
