The jailing of two men yesterday for blackmail sent a message to couples - think twice about taking sex photos with mobile phones because you may become a victim of extortion.
In Kwun Tong Court, Magistrate Sham Siu-man said in sentencing that the two separate cases were so serious that the defendants should have faced a higher court.
Warehouse worker Lo Chun-yee, 30, was jailed for 16 months for blackmailing the owner of a lost cellphone. Sham used the maximum penalty of two years' jail as a starting point but reduced the term for a guilty plea.
In the second case, Leung Ka-fai, 39, a former software analyst now unemployed, was jailed for 21/2 years on three counts of blackmail.
On October 1, Lo found a mobile phone inside a toilet at a shopping mall in Tsim Sha Tsui. He planned to sell the phone, which belonged to a 19-year-old mainland student.
While getting a quote at a shop in Mong Kok, he received a text message from the owner asking for the phone back, his lawyer, Chang Peng, said. Lo called the victim and asked for HK$2,000. The victim bargained the price down to HK$1,500 and called the police.
Later, Lo discovered nude photos of the student and his girlfriend. He threatened to upload them onto the internet and demanded HK$25,000. Police arrested Lo the following day when he met the victim.