A 23-year-old man from the Chinese mainland was arrested on Friday for sexually harassing a 30-year-old local woman wearing a short skirt while shopping, Public Security Police (PSP) spokeswoman Cheong Im Sim said during a regular press conference yesterday.The suspect, surnamed Gou, told the police that he is jobless.
Cheong reported that while the woman was at a shop on Travessa dos Anjos (天神巷), a pedestrian-only alley running between Rua do Campo and the Ginza Plaza shopping centre on Rua de Pedro Nolasco da Silva, at around 11 p.m. on Thursday, a man approached her and touched her thigh and buttocks before fleeing the scene. Feeling sexually harassed, the woman reported the incident to the police.
After reviewing the store’s CCTV footage and utilising the police forces’ citywide CCTV surveillance system, Cheong stated that PSP officers identified Gou as the suspect and apprehended him near Praça da Amizade (commonly known as Sintra Square) in Nam Van at around 2 a.m. the next day, about three hours later.
Under questioning, Cheong said, Gou admitted to the offence, telling the police that he was driven by a sudden sexual impulse upon seeing the woman in a short skirt.
Gou has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) and faces a charge of sexual harassment.
3 credit-for-sex scams
Meanwhile, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chao Teng Hin announced during yesterday’s regular press conference that three men separately fell victim to credit-for-sex scams, with a total loss equivalent to around 89,000 patacas.
In the first case, according to Chao, a man met a netizen last month who informed him about a mobile app where he could meet women for sex. After downloading the app, the man saw several chat groups, where a member claimed that one could have sex with a woman for 6,500 yuan.
After transferring the amount to a designated account through the app last month, the man was still unable to arrange a meeting with a woman. Subsequently, someone in the chat group told him to make another transfer. The man then made two additional transfers through the app late last month and early this month, amounting to over 48,000 yuan in total. However, he still could not achieve his goal and finally realised that he had been scammed, reporting the case to the police earlier this week, according to Chao.
The man reported a total loss of 54,780 yuan, equivalent to around 60,000 patacas.
In each of the other two cases, which occurred separately last week, according to Chao, a man met a “female netizen” who asked him to purchase gift cards to pay for sex services. After the man bought the gift cards, the “female netizen” demanded that he buy more gift cards, citing various reasons.
Eventually, the two men realised they had been defrauded, losing 2,100 patacas and 27,439 patacas, respectively.
Public Security Police (PSP) spokeswoman Cheong Im Sim looks on during yesterday’s regular press conference. – Photo: Ada Lei
