A Pakistani, a non-permanent Macau resident who works as a supervisor for a property management company, allegedly sexually harassed his female subordinate while they were inspecting a residential building together, on three occasions starting last month, Public Security Police (PSP) spokeswoman Lai In Hong said during a regular press conference on Friday.
The victim, a non-resident worker in her twenties from the mainland, also sustained minor injuries on her right arm as the result of the third sexual harassment earlier this month.
The victim did not report the case to the police after the first and second harassments, but decided to report it to the police after the third incident, after telling her husband about it.
The suspect, surnamed Tayyab who is in his thirties, refused to answer any questions from PSP officers, but the police decided to transfer him to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) based on CCTV footage and the victim’s hospital injury report.
3 harassments
Early last month, Lai said, while Tayyab and the victim were inspecting the residential building in Lam Mau Tong district together, he suddenly put his hand inside her collar and touched her left shoulder. Around the middle of last month, Lai said, Tayyab abruptly grabbed the victim around her waist when they were patrolling.
After the two harassments last month, the victim did not report them to the police as she was gripped by fear, Lai said.
On July 18 when they were inspecting the building together again, Lai said, Tayyab again suddenly put his arms around the victim from behind and touched her breasts, during which he repeatedly pressed himself against her buttocks.
Frightened, the victim struggled with Tayyab during which she sustained injuries on her right arm. After leaving the scene, Lai said, the victim underwent examinations at a hospital, which confirmed her injuries.
‘Just fooling around’
Afterwards, the victim angrily questioned Tayyab on a messaging app about what he had done to her, where he apologised to her and said that “he was just fooling around at that time”, according to Lai.
Lai said that after telling her husband about the incident, the victim decided to report the case to the police. Accompanied by her husband, she went to a police station on Tuesday last week to report the case.
Later that day, the police told Tayyab to report to a police station for questioning, where he, however, refused to answer any of the PSP officers’ questions.
Lai said that based on the evidence they had gathered such as the building’s CCTV footage and the victim’s hospital injury report, the police assume that Tayyab had sexually harassed the victim while also injuring her.
‘Aggravated circumstances’
The suspect has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office where he faces charges of sexual harassment under aggravated circumstances and causing bodily harm.
According to Article 137 of the Macau Penal Code, a charge of causing bodily harm carries a prison term of up to three years.
A sexual harassment suspect, according to the code’s Article 164-A, faces a prison term of up to one year. However, according to the code’s Article 171, a sexual harassment offender faces an aggravated circumstance charge if he or she is the victim’s job superior where the prison sentence is increased by a third.
