Revenge not my motive, victim of alleged sex assault tells Hong Kong court
A part-time student who accused a Belgian businessman of indecent assault on their first date denied she was helping two other women take revenge on him, a court heard yesterday.
The businessman, Laurent Frank, is standing trial for three sex charges over alleged attacks on three Hongkongers – indecent assault of the student, 29-year-old X, and rape of W, 27, and Y, 21 – in his Wan Chai hotel room between May and October 2013.
X, who was testifying behind a screen at the High Court, said two other women added her to a WhatsApp group named “Support one another, keep it up” in 2013.
Both women claimed they had had affairs with Frank, 32, and asked X to meet them in September that year, the High Court heard.
That meeting came after X accepted an invitation from Frank – whom she previously said she got to know via a social media website that August – to go to his room at Queen’s Cube hotel as the weather was very hot.
Frank led her to the balcony to take in the view, she said, then pushed her onto the bed and kissed her breasts.
She managed to push him away and rushed out of the room, the court heard.
Frank later messaged her and admitted he was “too direct”, she said, but she did not reply.
“I felt I was too stupid to have entered his room,” X said. “I felt ashamed and just wanted to go home immediately. I did not think of making a report to the police at the time.”
But she did, eventually, after hearing out the two WhatsApp users. She admitted that if she had not talked to them, she would not have report the case to the police.
Y, who also testified behind a screen yesterday, said she became acquainted with Frank on a social media website that October.
She was only 20 years old at that time and had never dated a foreigner before, she said.
Frank asked to meet her on October 24, 2013, after they had exchanged messages a few times. He kept asking her whether she would be wearing a dress when they met, she said.
“I thought he might want to take me to a high-class restaurant that required me to be dressed formally,” Y said. “But I was a bit curious why he insisted on me wearing a dress.”
Y said she went to Wan Chai to meet Frank after school. Before they met, Frank messaged her again: “I hope that we will like each other and become a bf and gf,” using abbreviations for boyfriend and girlfriend.
Y said she felt very weird as it was not the relationship she was expecting.
Last week, W told the court that Frank asked, ahead of the alleged rape, whether she would bring a condom to their meeting on May 1, 2013.
The trial continues before Deputy Judge Mr Justice Michael McMahon today.
