Man guilty of assault on boy at clubhouse
A retired businessman was yesterday convicted in the District Court of molesting a 12-year-old boy in a changing room of the Laguna Verde Clubhouse in Hung Hom.
Yik Seal-hung, 53, had pleaded not guilty on January 8 before District Court Judge Stanley Chan to one count of indecent assault and another of committing an indecent act on a child under 16.
He was found guilty of the offence by Judge Chan, who yesterday ruled that he had found the victim to be an honest and reliable witness.
Prosecutor Wong Hay-yiu told the court that Yik, who lives at Laguna Verde, committed the offences on July 19 last year while the boy was showering after a swim at the club.
It heard the victim was invited by his older sister, who also lives at Laguna Verde, to swim at the club.
At about 8pm on July 19, the victim had gone into the changing room alone to take a shower in one of the 19 cubicles. There had been no one occupying any of the other cubicles.
All of a sudden, Yik pulled open the cubicle curtain and went inside to molest the boy. After a while, Yik left and the victim left the cubicle to dress. However, Yik returned and performed an indecent act in front of the victim.
During the trial, the victim testified through a closed-circuit video system that he thought the incidents were 'very gross' and that he did not immediately tell his family about it that night. He told the court that he revealed the matter only to his sister the next day.
Judge Chan said in his verdict that he accepted the victim had told the truth. He also said that he could find no reason for Yik to go into the cubicle the victim was using because there were 18 others unoccupied.
The judge ordered a psychological report and a background report on Yik for sentencing on February 29.
