A computer technician convicted of stealing more than 1,000 sex photos of celebrities from a computer he was servicing was sentenced to 8 1/2 months in jail yesterday.
Sze Ho-chun, 24, was found guilty of three counts of obtaining access to a computer between January and June 2006 with a view to dishonest gain. In sentencing him, Chief Magistrate Tong Man said he had breached the trust of his employer and intruded on the privacy of singer-actor Edison Chen Koon-hei and the female stars shown in the photos.
Mr Tong said while there was no evidence that Sze had intended to disseminate the photos widely or use them for blackmail, a custodial sentence was necessary.
'It was a serious offence ... as the defendant put the [nude photos] at an extreme risk of being distributed as he copied them onto a compact disc,' he said.
Kevin Tang, Sze's lawyer, told the court Sze had been depressed after he was arrested and for over a year had been afraid to leave his home for fear of being identified or harmed.
Mr Tong, who denied the lawyer's request for a suspended sentence, told Sze: 'For all the painful days you have experienced after you lost your privacy ... have you ever thought that what you did has similarly caused pain to the victims?'
Sze's application for bail was also denied. He plans to appeal against the sentence.