A national security police officer has been sentenced to 20 months and four weeks behind bars for taking upskirt photos and attempting to grab another officer’s gun when he was taken to the police station over the incident.
West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts. File photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP.
Deputy District Judge Li Chi-ho sentenced Ko Chun-chung on Monday, after the 40-year-old police officer earlier pleaded guilty to illegal recording or observation of intimate parts and attempted possession of firearms without a licence, local media reported .
The court heard that Ko operated a device with intent to observe or record a woman’s intimate parts beneath her clothing, on January 15, 2025, on an escalator at Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station.
The woman, feeling an object bump against her left calf when she was on the escalator, saw Ko put his phone into his pocket. Suspecting that she had been upskirted, she demanded to see his phone and saw videos showing the escalator. She then took his phone from him and called the police.
When he was taken to Tsim Sha Tsui police station over the incident, he attempted to snatch an officer’s pistol.
‘Temporary excitement’
Deputy District Judge Li Chi-ho noted that Ko said in mitigation that he experienced immense work stress at the police force’s National Security Department and sought help from the police’s psychological services at one point.
Hong Kong Police Force. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Ko told the court he took the upskirt photos for “temporary excitement to relieve stress,” expressing remorse for his actions and acknowledging he had disgraced the police force and ruined his career, Li said.
Li said that Ko did not capture the woman’s face in the photos and videos, and that they were not circulated online. But the judge considered Ko’s violation of the law as a police officer to be an aggravating factor.
Regarding the firearm charge, Li accepted the defendant’s claim that he grabbed his colleague’s pistol in a “momentary lapse of judgement” to shoot himself and end his own life.
But Judge Li also said Ko’s actions post great risks to his colleagues and other detainees and that the consequences could have been fatal.
Li accepted that Ko’s actions were out of character and were an isolated incident, while a psychological report also indicated that the risk of reoffending was low to moderate. The judge considered that imprisonment was the only appropriate option due to the serious nature of both charges.
Taking into account the discount for Ko’s guilty plea and ordering for parts of the sentences to be served consecutively, Li sentenced the officer to 20 months and four weeks in prison.