Pinoy in HK nabbed for peeping in female toilet for 5th time
Eastern Magistrates' Courts
A 43-year-old Filipino bartender admitted this morning (March 27) that he was caught peeping twice inside a female toilet in Hong Kong.
Defendant Eduardo P. pleaded guilty to two charges of “loitering causing concern” at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts in Sai Wan Ho. He was sentenced to three months imprisonment for each charge.
“You have two charges that happened on different dates and are totally unrelated incidents. So, the sentence for charge one and charge two to be served consecutively so your total sentence is six months,” said Eastern presiding Magistrate Peter Law.
The defendant, an HK resident and is married, was arrested last month after he allegedly loitered inside the female toilet on the basement floor of Manly Plaza, 993-997 King’s Road in Quarry Bay.
“You loitered in the said place…and your presence there alone caused (the complainant) reasonably to be concerned for her safety or well-being,” said the police complaint.
According to investigators, a woman saw Eduardo leaving the female toilet in the basement of Manly Plaza at around 4 p.m. on February 16.
“The (woman) got frightened and asked the defendant what he was doing there but he did not answer and ran away,” the prosecutor said.
Based on the CCTV footage on Manly Plaza, Eduardo stayed inside the female toilet for 42 seconds.
And then at around 3:42 p.m. on Feb. 17, a woman again saw Eduardo inside the female toilet but, this time around, he was reported to the police, who arrested the defendant.
The CCTV footage showed that he was inside the toilet for 37 seconds.
“Inaamin ko po,” Eduardo said when asked about the two charges.
The prosecutor said that Eduardo had five previous criminal cases, three of which were similar to the present case.
“He claims he is very remorseful and is willing to apologize. He says he is very wrong and undertakes to pledge that he will not re-offend,” Eduardo’s lawyer said.
In November 2015, Eduardo was accused of loitering and peering into a toilet for women in Kowloon City but the judge junked the case because the government witnesses could not identify him.
In July that same year, he was arrested in Repulse Bay after four teenage girls complained that they saw him peeping inside the female changing room.
Two teenage girls allegedly saw the defendant peeping at a cubicle by lifting its shower curtain while two other teenage girls were changing their clothes.
During their separate testimonies, the girls said they saw parts of the face of the man who was peeping, and described the person suspected of peeping as “bald,” not Chinese, and wearing a black shirt and black trousers/shorts.
A taxi driver saw Eduardo as he was going out of the female toilet and stopped him from escaping. The driver said he also shouted for help from other people on the beach when Eduardo struggled and tried to flee.
When policemen arrived, Eduardo reportedly told them that he came from the women’s toilet because he was looking for his wife and daughter.
But Magistrate Peter Hui convicted Eduardo when the case was tried in December 2016.
“You are a repeat offender and the present offense is a bad one,” Judge Hui told the defendant. “You were seen roaming inside a female changing room that is a private place for females…They were walking around naked…They didn’t expect a male to be there.”
Eduardo’s lawyer asked for leniency, adding that the Filipino had a drinking problem and had already been jailed.
“Alcohol is a problem given his job as a bar tender in the same restaurant for the last five years…Being locked up seems to have given him a lesson. He understands that he has broken the law,” the barrister said.
“I will urge the court to give him one last chance. His brother, wife, and daughter are here to give him support,” he added, noting that Eduardo’s last conviction was in 2010.