The Hong Kong police have arrested a man suspected of indecently assaulting a teenage girl in a double-decker bus, after the incident was caught on camera and went viral on the Internet.
Police said over the weekend that the man, a 65-year-old hardware salesman surnamed Wu, was arrested on Friday night at the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge border crossing as he tried to re-enter the city from mainland China after the alleged attack earlier that day.
A viral one video The clip on Friday afternoon showed a male bus passenger on the upper deck reaching his arm towards the armpit of a woman sitting directly in front of him.
The clip, which was filmed by a passerby from street level, showed the woman pulling away from his arm, but the man did not pull away. The netizen who uploaded the clip said in a comment that the incident happened at around 12.10pm on Friday on board a Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) Route 16 service traveling between Lam Tin and Mong Kok. The video prompted a swift police investigation.
The suspect has denied bail
Police Inspector Wan Ka-nam said during a media conference on Saturday that officers contacted the victim, a student of Middle School Three, through her school, adding that the suspect was a stranger to the victim.
“At the time of the incident, the victim had just finished her lessons and was taking the bus home. The victim was frightened by the incident and did not immediately report it to the police,” Wan said in Cantonese.
“The force will maintain close contact with the victim’s family and her school in order to provide appropriate assistance to the victim,” Wan added.
Using it SmartView CCTV systempolice identified the suspect, who fled the city after the incident and was arrested that night at the border crossing, Wan said.
The suspect has been denied bail and will be brought to West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts to face a charge of indecent assault, Wan said.
After the clip went viral on social media on Friday, KMB said it was extremely concerned and was cooperating with a police investigation. according to for local media.
The bus operator urged passengers to seek immediate help from staff or call the police if they encounter similar situations.
