Test case for Hong Kong's underage sex law after boys, 11 and 13, arrested for alleged intercourse with girl
Boys of 11 and 13 who allegedly had intercourse with girl, 11, could get life terms after legal revision
Two boys aged 11 and 13 have been released on bail following their arrest on suspicion of having unlawful sex with an 11-year-old girl in a case set to test the way Hong Kong deals with sex crimes involving children.
The boys - who could face life in prison as a result of a change to the law in 2012 that abolished the presumption that males under the age of 14 were incapable of sexual intercourse - were detained on Thursday night after the 13-year-old was found having sex with the girl as the younger boy filmed them with his mobile phone in the stairwell of a Tuen Mun public housing estate.
The younger boy allegedly had sex with the same girl earlier.
They were discovered in Hing Yiu House, Tai Hing Estate, by a security guard who called police.
The maximum penalty for sex with a girl under 13 is life in prison - the same as rape - while the maximum sentence for sex with a girl under 16 is five years.
It is understood defendants cannot argue that consent was given in their defence because the laws are set out to protect extremely young girls.
This landmark change was made after a legal and public outcry five years ago over a case in which a magistrate described laws for juveniles and serious sex offences as "wholly and manifestly inadequate".