Hong Kong police arrest man over possession of child pornography after incident in mall toilet
- Police were first called on Sunday after a father reported a man had taken photos of his 14-year-old daughter in a shopping mall toilet
- Officers identified the suspect from CCTV footage and arrested him days later, allegedly finding a trove of child pornography on his electronic devices
Officers arrested the suspect at Oi Man Plaza shopping centre on Chung Hau Street in Ho Man Tin at about 10pm on Wednesday, a few days after the alleged incident took place.
On the man’s tablet and two mobile phones, police said they found a large quantity of photos and video clips of obscene acts involving children.
A force insider said police were investigating whether the photos and videos were taken in the city and involved local children.
On Sunday, officers were dispatched to the same mall at about 7.30pm after a 54-year-old man reported that someone had used a mobile phone to take illicit photos of his 14-year-old daughter in the toilet.
Police mounted a fruitless search in the area, but detectives were able to identify the suspect from surveillance footage and arrested him on Wednesday night.
The man was arrested on suspicion of outraging public decency and possession of child pornography.
As of Thursday morning, he was still being held for questioning and had not been charged.
In Hong Kong, outraging public decency carries a maximum penalty of seven years in jail, while possessing child pornography is punishable by up to five years.
In 2017, police arrested 15 men, aged 20 to 53, and confiscated at least 27,000 photos and videos depicting child sex abuse in one of the biggest crackdowns on child pornography in the city’s history.
