The computer technician convicted of stealing sexually explicit¹ photos of Canto² pop star Edison Chen Koon-hei was sentenced to eight and a half months in jail yesterday. His defence counsel declared he would file an appeal.

The Kowloon City Magistrate³ Court found Dicky Sze Ho-chun, 24, guilty of dishonestly obtaining access to the intimate photos. The photos showed Chen engaged in sex acts with female celebrities⁵, including Gillian Chung, Cecilia Cheung and Bobo Chan.

He was accused of stealing the pictures while Chen's computer was being repaired at Elite⁶ Multimedia⁷ Limited, where Sze was an employee.

Sze showed the photos to two female staff at a household store and burnt a compact disc containing 1,300 sex images for one of them. Sze was found guilty on all three counts.

Pleading for leniency⁸ before Chief Magistrate Tong Man, defence counsel Kevin Tang said Sze was only 21 when he committed the crime and was ignorant of the law.

"The defendant⁹ had no malicious¹⁰ intention in showing the nude¹¹ images to others. He was an innocent boy willing to share his experience with people who asked him to do so. He regrets what he did," Tang said, adding Sze accepts responsibility for the incident.

Sze and his family came under tremendous pressure after he was arrested in early 2008, Tang continued.

To avoid public disdain¹² and being hounded by media, Sze hid himself at home for a year. Sze's parents and sister described the ordeal¹³ as "life in jail".

Sze also worried about the safety of his family. Tang said Sze felt remorse¹⁴ and guilt⁴ over bringing difficulties to his family.

However, Magistrate Tong ruled out suspending the sentence owing to the seriousness of the crime.

"Though the defendant realized no monetary¹⁶ gain, he gravely invaded the privacy of others and breached¹⁷ the trust of his employer," he said.

The magistrate refused to grant bail¹⁸ pending¹⁵ appeal and ordered that Sze be jailed immediately.

Chief Inspector¹⁹ of Police Kenny Wong Tak-cheung said the judgment²⁰ served as a warning to the public that it is a serious offense²¹ to use a computer dishonestly.

Questions:

1. What other celebrities, besides Chen, were involved in the scandalous photos?

2. Where did Chen get his computer repaired?

3. How many counts was Sze found guilty of?

Answers:

1. Gillian Chung, Cecilia Cheung and Bobo Chan.

2. Elite Multimedia Limited.

3. Three.