A 70-year-old local man allegedly unzipped his flies and exposed his private parts to a girl who was with her mother on a public bus last week, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Leong Chi Seng said during a regular press conference on Friday.
However, the suspect, surnamed Lei, denied that he had intentionally exposed his penis, claiming that he had merely forgotten to zip his flies up.
According to Leong, the girl, whose age was not revealed, got onto a public bus with her mother on Rua do Visconde Paço de Arcos in the Inner Harbour area on Thursday morning.
During the bus ride en route to Taipa, Lei, who was sitting opposite the two females, looked at the girl, suddenly pulled down the zip on his trousers, and exposed his private parts, Leong said.
Leong said that despite Lei’s attempt to cover what he was doing with his sling bag, the girl’s mother realised what was going on. The girl then told her mother that she got scared when she saw what the man was doing. The woman told the bus driver about the incident, who reported the case to the police.
Under questioning by the police, according to Leong, Lei denied having deliberately exposed his penis. Lei told the police that during the bus ride, his private parts suddenly “felt a bit cool” and, he claimed, only then realised that he had forgotten to do his flies up.
After scrutinising the bus’s CCTV footage and considering other passengers’ accounts, Leong said, the police, however, suspect that Lei intentionally exposed his private parts.
Consequently, Leong said, the police decided to transfer Lei to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for further investigation, where he faces an exhibitionism and child sexual abuse charges.
Anyone who harasses someone by exposing their private parts faces an exhibitionism charge (Article 165 of the Macau Penal Code), which carries a prison term of up to one year. However, according to Article 166 of the Penal Code, a suspect who has committed exhibitionism vis-à-vis a person under the age of 14 faces a child sexual abuse charge and a prison term of up to three years, rather than facing the Article 165 exhibitionism charge.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) on Friday shows two PSP officers escorting the exhibitionism suspect to a police station in Taipa.
