Source:The Standard

A 19-year-old woman who admitted threatening to post nude photos of her online boyfriend unless he paid her HK$5,000 will learn her fate later this month. Tam Chung-yee was remanded in custody to the new sentencing date of July 25 after she appeared yesterday at Kwun Tong Magistrates' Court. Tam had earlier pleaded guilty to blackmailing the 24-year-old victim, surnamed Cheung, whom she had met through an online chatroom on August 13 last year.

The court was told the two continued to communicate for about a month - during which time they never even met face to face. Despite this, Cheung considered Tam his girlfriend, and once transferred HK$26,400 to her bank account in the hopes they would date. He also sent nude photos of himself and showed his naked body to her through a webcam. However, when Cheung sought to end their online "romance" on September 9, Tam threatened to show the nude photos to his boss and upload them on the internet unless he coughed up HK$5,000. Cheung refused to pay, and called the police instead.

Acting principal magistrate Amanda Jane Woodcock said it was a serious case as Tam was turning to blackmail at such a young age. Defense counsel conceded Tam had acted foolishly, but she had no previous criminal record. The lawyer said Tam was only trying to verbally intimidate the victim, but took no practical action. And the photos have since been deleted. Tam was originally due to be sentenced yesterday, but Woodcock granted a defense request for a further adjournment to await a second probation report. The defense had no disagreement with the first report, but wanted a second opinion.


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