A man was caught red-handed after he was tailed by the police to the place where he allegedly hid a nine-year-old child for almost two days, Kowloon City Court heard on Monday.
Chan Ying-ho, who faces one count of forcibly taking or detaining a person, was followed after he allegedly collected a ransom of HK$2.5 million he had sought from the victim's mother on Saturday.
Prosecutor Stephen Ng said Chan, 36, then headed back to a flat in Tai Wai, where he allegedly kept the child, who was referred to only as X in court.
When the police arrived at the flat, Ng said, they found X tied up. Police arrested Chan at the scene.
The defendant, who works as a sales representative, was not required to make a plea to the charge, which accuses him of detaining X by fraud in an attempt to procure a ransom.
The court heard that Chan met X at a soccer pitch in Kowloon on Friday. Later that day, the mother received a call from Chan demanding HK$2.5 million, the court heard.