YouTuber fined for lewd act at Maccas

A CHINESE YouTuber has been fined $1000 and put on a community protection register for masturbating near a threeyear-old girl at the Sandy Bay McDonald’s.

On Thursday, Xiaowei Huang faced the Hobart Magistrates Court where he was convicted and fined over one count of prohibited behaviour.

The prohibited behaviour in question took place in September 2020 when the 26-year-old was working on a laptop at the Sandy Bay McDonald’s.

Magistrate Jackie Hartnett said Huang saw a family of three including one woman, her husband, and their threeyear-old daughter.

Huang moved to sit closer to the family and struck up a conversation with the group, with the three-year-old as the “centre of conversation”.

After the conversation ended, Huang put his hands in his pants and began masturbating while “furtively” looking in the child’s direction.

Magistrate Hartnett said there were CCTV cameras nearby, but said “it appears the desire was so intense” that he carried on regardless.

The woman reported that she was “disgusted” and the father told Mr Huang to “f--k off and leave us alone”.

Magistrate Hartnett noted that Huang had concerns that a conviction could jeopardise his chance at getting a permanent residency visa.

However, she said a permanent residency visa required trust with the Australian community, and that Huang had “broken that trust”.

“In my view I’ve determined the nature of the offence is such that a conviction is appropriate,” Magistrate Hartnett said.

She noted that Huang’s parents had made significant financial sacrifices including selling their house to send him to Australia for education.

He studied translation and had been hoping to get a NAATI translator certificate in order to apply for a permanent residency visa. Huang currently earns a living through making YouTube videos.

He received a conviction, was fined $1000 plus court costs, and was put on a community protection register.