An Uber driver who took nearly 900 upskirt videos of his passengers with two pinhole cameras hidden behind his seat was jailed for two months and fined HK$2,000 (8,000 baht) by a Hong Kong court on Thursday.
Wong Yiu-long, 44, was driving a 28-year-old woman from Tsim Sha Tsui to Sha Tin in the small hours of Sept 8 last year when police stopped him for a breathalyser test and found a mobile phone in his glovebox showing a live-stream video of his sleeping passenger, Sha Tin Court heard.
Investigators later discovered he had taken 13 upskirt videos of the passenger and another 870 of other women. Two photos were also found.
Police found two pinhole cameras installed at the back of the driver’s seat.
Wong pleaded guilty earlier this month to one count of committing an act outraging public decency and another of driving a motor vehicle for the carriage of passengers for hire or reward without a specified licence or car hire permit.
Ride hailing services are illegal when drivers are carrying passengers without permits issued under the Road Traffic Ordinance.
He cried in the dock and kept his head bowed on Thursday as defence counsel Debora Poon Suk-ying revealed Wong felt extremely ashamed and relayed his apology to the community, the victims and his family.
Mitigation letters revealed Wong’s family had been shocked to learn of his offence but had since forgiven him.
Poon said the former logistics company supervisor had taken up part-time driving with Uber for an extra HK$10,000 per month to repay debts and support his family, but had made the mistake of filming his passengers to obtain momentary pleasure since he had not had sex with his wife for the past 10 years.
“He came to his senses the moment he was caught,” Poon said.
Wong had since lost his job, been declared bankrupt and sold his car.
His counsel argued for a non-custodial sentence, noting he had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and cooperated with police.
Pre-sentencing reports had recommended 240 hours of community service or 12 months’ probation with the condition that Wong receive psychological therapy.
But acting Principal Magistrate Winnie Lau Yee-wan found Wong had obviously planned his offence when he placed his cameras in a way that would capture his passengers’ inner thighs and even private parts, and also set up his mobile phone to allow real-time viewing of the footage.
To protect women and send a message to the public, a deterrent sentence in the form of immediate imprisonment was needed, the magistrate said.
Wong was fined HK$2,000 for offering the illegal car service and given a three-month jail term, which was then reduced by one-third to reflect his guilty plea, for the filming.
Uber refunded the HK$235 fare to the passenger in the present case.
Under Hong Kong law, using a car for hire without a permit is a criminal offence punishable by a HK$5,000 fine and three months’ imprisonment on first conviction and HK$10,000 and six months’ jail on a subsequent conviction.