A 23 year-old man has been jailed for one year by a Hong Kong district court for sending obscene and threatening e-mails to two female students in what is said by South China Morning Post to be Hong Kong’s first cyber-stalking case.

Ko Kam-fai set up a free internet e-mail account with USA.net and used it to repeatedly e-mail the 22 and 24 year-old students over a nine month period. In his messages, he included obscene images and threats of rape. He downloaded a hacking program from the internet and used it to monitor the on-line activities of one of the two women.

According to today’s South China Morning Post, Ko Kam-fai pleaded guilty to eight counts of criminal damage and two counts of criminal intimidation. He told the court in mitigation that he intended the acts as a joke and deserved only community service. The judge rejected his plea, adding that a custodial sentence was necessary to deter others.

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