Hong Kong government employee jailed for taking upskirt videos of women at work
Judge blasts man’s conduct as ‘disgraceful’ after he pleaded guilty to 21 counts of accessing a computer with dishonest intent
A Hong Kong government officer who took upskirt videos of women while he was supposed to be witnessing their oaths at work was jailed for 22 months on Wednesday, with the judge calling his behaviour “disgraceful”.
Hung Cheung-hong, a commissioner for oaths at the Home Affairs Department, was sentenced at the District Court a day after he pleaded guilty to 21 counts of accessing a computer with dishonest intent.
The 31-year-old father of two, also an auxiliary police officer, admitted that between 2014 and 2016, he had taken indecent videos of 20 women who came to seek his services at the North District Office. He distracted his victims by asking them to turn around, the court heard.
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Sentencing Hung on Wednesday, Deputy Judge Don So Man-lung said oath-taking was meant to be a solemn matter, but Hung had used that to prey on his victims while they were unaware.
“This makes one’s hair stand,” he said.
This makes one’s hair stand
He noted some of the videos featured the women’s faces and identities. “If they were leaked, it would be a blow to these innocent women,” the judge added.
Hung was “disgraceful”, So said, in that he committed the offence 20 times over a a two-year period. Before sending him away, the judge concluded that the man had abused his power.
Hung initially faced a string of 49 charges including using computers dishonestly and misconduct in public office. But prosecutors did not pursue the rest after Hung admitted to 21 of the charges.
They said Hung was caught in a shopping centre in Fanling when he tried to film a woman on an escalator on August 10, 2016.
His arrest led to a search of his home, resulting in the discovery of about 2,200 upskirt video clips. Among the collection, most of which were downloaded clips from the internet, 40 were taken by Hung himself.
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At the time of the offence, Hung’s job was to monitor oaths and help the public access the Free Legal Advice Scheme.
He would tell his victims to turn around, sometimes by giving reasons that he was not ready or that there were documents the victims could not view. When he filmed them, he would also take a shot of their identification documents.
In mitigation, his lawyers said Hung was under considerable pressure from his family to buy his own property. He had picked up the habit of watching upskirt videos in 2014.
Hung, diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, has since sought help from psychologists and psychiatrists. His wife had also forgiven him, according to his lawyers.
