Elevator sex pest arrested, confesses to molesting 15

Police have arrested a man who confessed to having sexually assaulted 15 women in elevators in Daxing district.

So far, only two of the victims have come forward, and police have appealed for the others to aid their investigation.

The suspect, a 22-year-old property salesman surnamed Li, was detained for indecency last week after allegedly molesting a woman, surnamed Zhang. Officers had been watching out for him since May 10, said a publicity officer surnamed Luo, from Daxing district public department.

Li confessed he had molested 15 women during the past two months in the elevators at three different residential communities while wearing the same white shirt, said police.

"A woman reported being pushed to the floor of an elevator around 8:30 pm on May 10 by a man wearing a white shirt, and fortunately this incident was caught on camera," said Luo.

According to the surveillance video seen on a Beijing Television news program, a man is seen following a woman into an elevator on May 10. Suddenly he grabs her, kissing her on the mouth, and wrestles her to the ground. As the elevator doors open, he exits, then returns, kissing the woman again. In a second clip, filmed on May 17 at 9 pm, the same man touches another young woman on the breast, before rushing out of the elevator.

Li allegedly told police that he first wanted to "take out his resentment" after having had a big fight with his girlfriend two months ago, and he became "addicted to the excitement." He harassed women in the residential compounds he was familiar with due to his job in the property business.

Local residents in the community have been calling the police station appealing for Li to be severely punished out of outrage or panic, said an officer, surnamed Yin, from Qingyuan Lu Police Station, Daxing district.

"It's scary knowing there's an elevator pervert in the neighborhood, and I'm glad he's in detention now," said Yu Miaomiao, a resident of Daxing district.

"Now and then you hear of sex harassment cases, and it's a wake-up call to be careful. But later on, we often forget that," said Yang Ying, a resident in the Yizhuang area of Daxing district.

Li said he had targeted young women with long hair walking alone at night in comparatively revealing clothing, who he found "most attractive," said Luo.

"Many female victims choose to stay silent after a sexual attack, which could affect the investigation and the sentence he gets," said Luo.

On the same day Li was arrested in Daxing, a 44-year-old man was detained for allegedly sexually harassing a young woman on a subway train at Dawanglu Station, Chaoyang district, while Fangshan court opened a trial of a teacher accused of sexually attacking three female students at a summer camp.

Liu Wenyi, a lawyer from Beijing Kangda Law Firm, said some women could have trust issues with revealing the details of sexual harassment, even to the authorities.

"It's happened before that the victims were identified in the press against their will, which caused them trouble, even before the suspect was sentenced," said Liu.

"As to this specific case, I see no reason why the suspect wouldn't face the highest penalty for indecency, up to five years imprisonment," said Liu.

Wang Xingjuan, founder of Beijing-based NGO Maple Women's Psychological Counseling Center, said that almost none of the women calling in over the past few years that had suffered a sex attack eventually chose to report the incident to police.

"We always encourage them to do so, but we totally understand how much pressure they are under to stay silent, as it's often considered a shame of the woman instead of a crime committed by a man, even within the victim's family," said Wang.

"The system for dealing with sex crimes is not so sensitive, and women often suffer again from telling the details to male police officers, which can cause further mental trauma," said Wang.