A Hong Kong court has acquitted a government statistician accused of loitering near a girls’ school and outside a classroom to photograph a pupil, ruling that his conduct did not pose an actual threat despite leaving the girl feeling unsafe.
Eastern Court Magistrate Kestrel Lam Tsz-hong on Tuesday found 59-year-old Patrick Lam Win-hon not guilty of one count of loitering causing concern, despite acknowledging that the defendant had loitered at one of Causeway Bay’s leading girls’ schools on July 5 last year.
The court heard that the statistician entered the school on its open day and spent 14 minutes on the fourth floor, where the classroom of the pupil he allegedly targeted was located.
Other students alerted teachers to the defendant’s suspicious behaviour, including his taking photographs through the classroom window.
The court heard that the target was a 16-year-old girl, who said the defendant had followed her during her daily commute to school for two to three years.
The girl said she first noticed the defendant showing interest in her by smiling and nodding at her on the MTR in late 2022. She said she later spotted the same man in the same carriage while travelling from Olympic to Hong Kong station on her daily commute.
