Hong Kong court overturns child pornography conviction of former kindergarten director
- High Court clears former kindergarten director of a count of producing child pornography, footage fails to match criteria under relevant legislation
- With legal loophole for voyeurism plugged last year, judge warns former kindergarten director to ‘learn this lesson’ over filming other women
A former kindergarten director jailed for filming a girl in his toilet had the conviction overturned after a Hong Kong judge ruled that the footage did not qualify as a “pornographic depiction” based on the relevant legislation.
The High Court on Monday cleared the former kindergarten director of a count of producing child pornography, an alternative charge pursued by prosecutors in his case in 2018 when voyeurism and clandestine recording of intimate parts had yet to be outlawed.
The 39-year-old had worked as a business analyst in Canada, where he obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, before returning to Hong Kong in 2014 to take charge of a local kindergarten.
He was arrested in late 2018 and sacked immediately by his employer after the appellant’s USB flash drive, containing nine videos of women using the bathroom at his home, was discovered by a friend.
Three of the victims were later identified as the appellant’s junior colleagues at the kindergarten, who had visited his residence in Tsim Sha Tsui between 2015 and 2016.
But police released the appellant in 2019 after the Court of Final Appeal ruled that the charge of “obtaining access to a computer for criminal or dishonest gain”, often invoked by prosecutors before voyeurism was made illegal in October 2021, should not apply in cases involving a suspect’s own digital device.
