A 46-year-old lawyer got into a fight with two young men after he allegedly sexually harassed a female teenager aged under 14 at a taxi rank outside Macau Fisherman’s Wharf on Sunday morning, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Wong Wai Chon said during a regular press conference yesterday.
According to Wong, the lawyer kept cursing the police officers who arrived at the scene to handle the incident.
Wong said that the police had decided not to identify the lawyer during yesterday’s press conference because “his surname enables people to easily identify who he is”. But Wong said that the lawyer is a local Chinese resident.
The two young men, aged 18 and 19 respectively, were drinking with the girl at the disco in Macau Fisherman’s Wharf in Nape overnight from Saturday to Sunday. The trio are all students. The lawyer was also drinking at the venue, Wong said.
According to Wong, the girl and the two young men started drinking together at the disco on Saturday night. While they were waiting for a taxi at the taxi rank outside Macau Fisherman’s Wharf at around 9 a.m. on Sunday, the lawyer suddenly approached the girl and the two young men and invited her for a drink. Wong said that the lawyer then proceeded to stroke the girl’s back.
Wong said that the girl felt that the lawyer had sexually harassed her, and the two young men attempted to stop him from continuing to touch the girl. Wong said that the lawyer and the two men then got into an argument, which escalated into a fight.
Wong said that the fight alerted police officers nearby. When the officers arrived at the scene, the lawyer started swearing at them. Despite being warned repeatedly, he kept cursing the officers, Wong said.
Under questioning at a police station, the lawyer claimed that he was very drunk after drinking a lot of alcoholic beverages at the disco so that he could not remember what he had done to the girl, according to Wong.
The lawyer denied that he sexually harassed the girl and insulted the police officers at the scene, Wong said. The lawyer and one of the two young men also accused each other of starting the fight, and the girl decided to file a criminal complaint against the lawyer, according to Wong.
According to Wong, the lawyer has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing a child sexual abuse charge, an aggravated insult charge, and a charge of causing bodily harm.
According to Article 166 of the Macau Penal Code, a suspect who has sexually harassed a person under the age of 14 faces a child sexual abuse charge and a prison term of up to three years, rather than a sexual harassment charge, which carries a prison term of up to one year.
Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Wong Wai Chon addresses yesterday’s press conference. Photo courtesy of TDM
