By Vir B. Lumicao
Pskit was allegedly found 'loitering' in this mall's ladies room |
A Filipino resident in Hong Kong has been refused bail by an
Eastern Court magistrate following his arrest for straying into a ladies’
toilet in a shopping mall in Quarry Bay.
This is the fourth time the defendant, Eduardo Pakit, 44,
has been charged with “loitering causing concern” for sneaking into women’s
changing rooms on a beach or toilets in shopping centers to watch or photograph
them secretly.
The prosecution did not give details of the three previous cases, but local media reports carried two of them.
In the latest, the prosecution said in a hearing on Feb
21 that a local woman, Madam X, saw Pakit inside the ladies’ toilet in Manly Plaza
along King’s Road on Feb 17 and reported the matter to the building security.
Pakit’s presence in the ladies’ room had caused Madame X
concern for her safety and well-being, the prosecution said.
The defendant, who works as a bartender, was taken into custody on Feb 19. An identity parade would be held on Monday, Feb 25, to ascertain whether he was the same man seen in the ladies’ toilet.
Magistrate Cheng Lim-chi rejected Pakit’s bail application
at the recommendation of the prosecution, which said the defendant was a repeat
offender who had three previous criminal records for similar offenses.
On Dec 31, 2016, Pakit was charged and convicted after entering
a ladies’ changing room in Repulse Bay in July of that year and peeping into a
cubicle where two teenage girls were changing their clothes.
But in November 2015, Pakit was acquitted by a judge in
Kowloon City of loitering and peeping into a women’s toilet because the
witnesses could not identify him positively.