By Vir B. Lumicao
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| Trial of Pinoy in upskirt video case resumes on Dec 15 |
A magistrate in Kwun Tong Court was forced to adjourn the trial of a Filipino worker accused of taking an upskirt video of a woman when the phone with the contested footage failed to boot up on Dec. 5.
Magistrate Chu Chung-keung postponed the trial of defendant Nelson San Juan to Dec. 15 after the defense said the battery of the mobile phone with the video had drained.
The defense lawyer said the phone was kept by the police since it was seized in December last year, and its battery had gone dead.
He said the phone would need at least 25 minutes to recharge to 50% and be able to play back the video footage.
The magistrate adjourned the hearing after realizing that San Juan would not be able to finish his evidence by the 1pm break if the phone battery was to be charged up first.
The magistrate admitted the video footage as evidence in the case, but disallowed
a notebook on which the arresting officer wrote his initial interview with the
suspect.
At the previous hearing, the arresting officer had alleged that
San Juan admitted his iPhone’s video camera was
running while he was behind the woman, Miss X, ascending an escalator at a mall
in Kowloon Bay
The defendant was arrested by the plainclothes officer who
tailed him after seeing him holding a mobile phone and following the woman, the
prosecution said.
When all three got to the upper floor of the mall, the
officer alerted the woman, then accosted San
Juan and checked his phone.
In his testimony, the officer said San Juan initially denied he had taken
upskirt photos of Ms X but later told him the phone’s video camera was on.
The officer also said he wrote the defendant’s statement on
his notebook. But Magistrate Chu rejected the notebook as evidence after the
defense lawyer said the statement was taken without San
Juan being allowed to contact his employer first.
However, the magistrate said San Juan had a case to answer regarding the
video footage.
