Looking up woman's skirt 'not disorderly conduct', magistrate rules

A suspected peeping tom was acquitted of disorderly behaviour yesterday after a magistrate ruled that prosecutors were pressing the wrong charge.

At stake was the question of whether Mark Lester Mui Ka-yiu's alleged offence - lying under a bus seat to peek up a woman's skirt - was likely to lead to a breach of the peace and incite unlawful violence in others.

The case came a month after the top court reiterated that both elements had to be present to prove a charge of disorderly behaviour in a public place.

Magistrate Adriana Tse ruled in Eastern Court yesterday that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Mui's actions met the criteria. Mui had pleaded not guilty and denied peeking up the woman's skirt, claiming he had been picking up a piece of paper.

Mui's counsel, Albert Fung, cited in his defence the Court of Final Appeal's decision last month to overturn the convictions of Chow Nok-hang and Wong Hin-wai for the same offence. They interrupted an MTR Corporation event to protest against higher rail fares.

The top court reaffirmed the requirement to show that the acts led to unlawful violence for the charge to be proved.