Government Statistician on Trial for Loitering After Tracking Student for Years

A Hong Kong government statistician has gone on trial in the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts after being accused of loitering at an island district elite school and photographing a 16-year-old female student, according to court reporting.

Years of MTR Encounters Precede Open Day Arrest

The teenage complainant, identified in court as student X, testified that her encounters with the defendant began well before the July 5, 2025, open day incident. According to her testimony, she first noticed the defendant in October 2022 while traveling to school via Olympic Station. For two to three years, she regularly encountered him on her morning commute, stating that he would wait for her to board the train and nod in her direction. Throughout this multi-year period, the two only engaged in a single conversation, during which the defendant asked her whether she had exams.

While student X initially nodded back, she began avoiding his gaze and walking away as his recurring presence made her feel unsafe. She also told the court that she once observed him standing on a platform at the Central transfer station letting trains pass without boarding, a pattern that persisted over the course of several years.

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Open Day Discovery at a Hong Kong Island School

The situation escalated on July 5, 2025, when student X returned to her school in Causeway Bay for an open day event. Her homeroom teacher noticed a man wandering along the school corridors and asked classmates if anyone recognized him. Upon seeing the man, student X realized it was the same individual she had repeatedly encountered on the MTR, prompting her to report the matter to the police.

Police subsequently seized 45 photographs from the defendant’s mobile phone. Student X identified 17 of those images as pictures of herself taken inside the school, alongside a selfie of the defendant standing in front of exhibition items. Defense questioning established that student X had not previously filed a police report because the defendant had never physically touched or harmed her, and she acknowledged that the school was hosting lectures and exhibitions on the day of the open day.

The defendant just appeared in a public place, and he was simply viewing exhibits and taking photographs. His conduct was not enough to cause fear for her personal safety, and cannot constitute the offense of loitering. Defense submission, Eastern Magistrates’ Courts

Legal Arguments and Adjournment Before Magistrate Justin Ko

The defendant chose not to give testimony and did not call any witnesses.

During closing submissions, the defense argued that the defendant entered the school strictly in the capacity of a member of the public visiting the exhibits, and asserted that the court ought not to take prior incidents into account when evaluating the single charge.