Bail rejected for man who dressed as girl student to take upskirt photos

A 30-year-old man who cross-dressed as a female secondary student to peek and take photos in a restroom of Good Hope School in Ngau Chi Wan appeared in court yesterday.

Cheung Chun-hong, an operations officer of Citybus, was charged with a count of voyeurism and appeared before magistrate David Chum Yau-fong at Shatin Magistrates' Courts yesterday.

He was accused of peeking and taking photos of two girls in a restroom last Monday on the third floor at Good Hope School, a place where "any individual could reasonably be expected to be nude, to reveal an intimate part, or to be doing an intimate act."

The girls had reasonable expectations of privacy in the restroom, but Cheung disregarded whether the girls consented to be observed or recorded, the prosecution said.

No plea was taken and Chum adjourned the case to November 6 at Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts, as police officers need to further investigate the case, including checking surveillance camera footage and verifying fingerprints.

Cheung's bail application was rejected by the magistrate and he was remanded in jail custody. He was arrested on Friday and police officers seized a large number of uniforms from several girls' schools, female clothes and underwear, as well as wigs at his home in Tseung Kwan O and in an industrial unit in San Po Kong.

Assistant District Commander of Crime in Wong Tai Sin Lau Ka-ho said on Saturday that the police received a report of the case at 9.30am last Monday, saying Cheung pretended to be a female student to enter the school and hid inside the restroom.

The police started the search for him by checking surveillance camera footage near the school and then found Cheung in a San Po Kong industrial building unit at 7.30pm last Friday.

Lau said the officers seized different school uniforms at Cheung's Tseung Kwan O home and the San Po Kong unit, as well as female underwear, wigs, and cosmetic items.

"According to the information and evidence we have obtained, we believe the man was peeking and taking photos inside the restroom. We are still investigating whether there is evidence in his electronic devices," Lau said.

"We have also seized various female clothes and items and officers will investigate why he possesses these items," he said.

The evidence seized by the police included uniforms from Ying Wa Girls' School, Pui Ching Middle School, Marymount Secondary School, Kiangsu-Chekiang College, and Ho Fung College, as Lau said the police are investigating whether other schools were involved in the case.

A person convicted of voyeurism could be jailed for up to five years, Lau warned. "Voyeurism is not only a serious offense, but also a very despicable act," he said.