Monk Facing Jail for Stash of Child Porn

Source: The Standard

A Buddhist monk living in Chuk Lam Sim Yuen monastery in Tsuen Wan yesterday admitted possessing child pornography.

Chow Yee Cheong, 41, is the first in Hong Kong to be prosecuted in an anti-child sex abuse operation after British authorities busted a commercial child pornography website last year.

The District Court was told Hong Kong police, acting on intelligence from Interpol, raided Chow's room in the monastery on May 7, seizing two optical discs and a computer containing 17 videos and 85 pornographic photos depicting children in various sex acts.

The monk told police he bought the two discs out of curiosity in Malaysia for HK$50 each a few years ago.

He downloaded the videos and photos from the internet.

The materials depicted young Caucasian and Japanese children, with some looking under 10 years old.

In mitigation, defense lawyer Herbert Leung Yiu-fai asked Deputy Judge John Glass to consider the children as being not "very young."

The judge disagreed.

"They are not babies. To me they're young children about five and six years old," Glass said.

"I don't know what you call them."

Leung also asked Glass to consider the small quantity of discs found and that some photos were duplicates. The judge said he could not tell if the photos were duplicates just by looking at the private parts, and that he could not ignore the fact there were another 160 minutes of videos showing children and adults having sex.

Leung said Chow, who had been remanded in custody for four months, has no previous record, and has been cooperative since his arrest in May.

Leung said his client claimed to have viewed the materials once, and that there was no evidence to suggest Chow had taken part in the production, reproduction or sharing of the materials.

Leung appealed for leniency from the court, urging the judge to leave all sentencing options open.

But Glass rejected the mitigation plea, saying the offense was serious and a custodial sentence is necessary.

He adjourned sentencing to September 16 pending psychiatric and background reports on Chow.

The monk, born in Malaysia to Chinese parents, came to Hong Kong in 1993. His parents, in their 70s, still live in Malaysia.

Chow, who holds a master's degree in philosophy, provided counseling at Chuk Lam Shin Yuen and was paid HK$4,000 a month.

(By Nickkita Lau)

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Editor: Chen Minjie