High Court overturns conviction of Filipino in upskirt video case

The High Court in Admiralty (FILE PHOTO)

A Filipino convicted on a charge of taking an upskirt video of a woman in a Kowloon Bay mall won his appeal after a High Court judge quashed his conviction.

Deputy High Court Judge Isaac Tam on Sept. 10 overturned the conviction of Nelson San Juan for “committing an act outraging public decency” and set aside his sentence of three weeks imprisonment.

Tam, in his judgment, said he was not satisfied that the prosecution had excluded the possibility of the incident being an accident beyond reasonable doubt.

San Juan was convicted in Jan. 2018 for taking footage of a woman under her skirt two years prior.

But in his appeal, he said his conviction was unsafe or unsatisfactory, and that the magistrate misunderstood the evidence presented before him.

Judge Tam concurred, saying the magistrate who convicted San Juan had mixed up details of the evidence used to convict him. He said the fact that the lens of the camera was not aimed at the woman casts doubts on San Juan’s actions being deliberate.

The High Court judge added the officer’s statement—countering that the lens of the camera was directed “towards the female”—was incorrect and put the reliability of the officer in question.

But Judge Tam rejected San Juan’s appeal that “outraging public decency” is an inappropriate charge in cases of taking upskirt material.

San Juan is represented by Bar Free Legal Service Scheme.