A middle-aged man who made the airport his home was given a suspended sentence yesterday after he admitted possessing four Japanese pornographic comics depicting children and under-age girls.
Sentencing Leo Sit Lay-man, 43, Magistrate Don So Man-lung said the depiction of children in 'virtual images' was harmful to children even though there were no actual victims.
He gave Sit a two-month jail term, suspended for two years, saying he thought the chance that he would reoffend was slim based on his remorse and background, together with medical reports indicating he was not a paedophile or sexually aberrant.
He said he was reluctant to pass a community service order on a homeless man because it would be hard for the authorities to track him.
The court heard that Sit, who is single, had lived at the airport with bags of personal belongings after losing his job in 2003 and had lost touch with society and his family.
The comics were seized from his bags on September 15 after he was arrested in Terminal 1 after a receptionist at a logistics company complained he had regularly watched her since September 2006, sometimes mimicking her gestures.