Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak said yesterday that the number of child sex abuse cases recorded in 2018 rose 50 percent year-on-year, calling for joint action by the different sectors of civil society to tackle the issue.
Wong announced Macau’s 2018 crime statistics during a press conference yesterday at the S. Francisco Barracks.
According to Wong, the total number of crimes recorded last year rose slightly by 0.5 percent (an increase of 72 cases) to 14,365. The number of recorded violent crime cases fell 21.1 percent (a decrease of 173 cases) from 820 cases in 2017 to 647 cases last year, he said.
Concerning the fact that no or very few serious crime cases such as kidnapping, homicide and grievous bodily harm were reported last year, Wong insisted that Macau’s public security continued to be good and in a stable condition last year.
2 homicides
According to the crime statistics for last year released on the website of Wong’s office yesterday, the police recorded two homicides and seven cases of grievous bodily harm last year, one case down from 2017 and unchanged from 2017 respectively. No kidnapping cases were recorded in 2017 or 2018.
27 child sex abuse cases
Wong said that 27 child sex abuse cases were recorded last year, an increase of 50 percent from 2017 when 18 such cases were reported. The policy secretary said that the large increase in such cases showed that various government entities, schools and parents needed to take joint action for the effective prevention of such cases, such as by improving communication and raising legal awareness.
Article 166 of the Macau Penal Code – sexual abuse of children – covers any kinds of sex acts carried out on minors aged below 14.
Article 166 states that a person who has had sexual contact with a minor under the age of 14 faces a prison term of between one and eight years. According to Article 166, the offender faces a prison term of between three and 10 years if the sex act involves sexual intercourse, anal sex or oral sex, or when the offender inserts an object, or any particular part of their body, into the minor’s vagina or anus.
Pickpocketing on the rise
Meanwhile, Wong said that while the number of theft cases recorded last year dropped by 6.5 percent (a decrease of 190 cases) from 2,937 to 2,747, there was a significant increase in the subcategory of recorded pickpocketing cases in public roads and on public buses last year. The police recorded 260 cases of pick pocketing in public roads and 284 cases of pickpocketing on public buses last year, 72 cases and 77 cases more than in 2017 respectively.
Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak (centre), flanked by his chief-of-cabinet Cheong Ioc Ieng (second from right), Unitary Police Service (SPU) Commissioner-General Ma Io Kun (second from left), Public Security Police (PSP) Commissioner Leong Man Cheong (first from left) and Judiciary Police (PJ) Director Sit Chong Meng, addresses yesterday’s press conference about the city’s 2018 crime statistics, at the S. Francisco Barracks. Photo: GCS
