Kaohsiung Man Invades Female Colleague's Phone, Attempts to Steal Private Images, Sentenced to 6 Months

(Central News Agency, Reporter Hong Xueguang, Kaohsiung, July 2nd) Chen, a man from Kaohsiung, took advantage of his female colleague leaving her seat to unlock her phone and look through it, attempting to transfer private images from her album to his own. Fortunately, the woman returned before he could succeed. The Kaohsiung District Court initially sentenced him to 4 months for illegally accessing a computer or related equipment. The appellate court changed the sentence to 6 months, which is now final.

The Kaohsiung District Court ruling stated that the married Chen learned his female colleague's phone password by chance. In May 2024, he took advantage of the colleague briefly leaving her seat to enter the password without authorization, illegally accessing the phone to view her album and discover private images.

As Chen attempted to transfer the images to his own phone via the LINE messaging app, the woman happened to return to her seat, preventing the transfer and thus exposing the case.

The Kaohsiung District Court's initial summary judgment found Chen guilty of illegally accessing a computer or related equipment and attempted illegal reproduction of sexual imagery, sentencing him to 3 months and 2 months respectively, for a combined sentence of 4 months.

The prosecutor argued that Chen's actions caused the female colleague significant mental distress, requiring ongoing psychiatric treatment, and that the original sentence was too lenient. The prosecutor appealed, and the case was heard by a collegiate panel at the Kaohsiung District Court for the appeal.

During the appeal, Chen admitted to having feelings for the woman and wanting to transfer the images for his own keeping. The collegiate panel considered that Chen disregarded workplace boundaries and ethics, infringed upon the woman's privacy rights, and caused the victim to require continuous medical treatment. They acknowledged that the original sentence was indeed too lenient. Taking into account that Chen consistently admitted his guilt and expressed willingness to mediate, but was rejected by the woman, the court overturned the original ruling and imposed a combined sentence of 6 months, which can be commuted to a fine. The ruling is final and not subject to appeal. (Editor: Xiao Bowen) 1150702

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