Indecent assault acquittal of Hong Kong student to stand, judge rules
The accused was cleared of one count of indecent assault in July last year
A review of an indecent assault case involving a university student and a minor found the prosecution failed to raise any new points.
Choi Wai-lun, 23, was cleared of one count of indecent assault last July, when Deputy Magistrate Peter Hui Shiu-keung sided with the defence in finding it was possible Choi did not know the victim was underage.
The prosecution alleged he met the girl, who was 13 at the time, online and contacted her later to meet at a Yau Ma Tei hotel on August 4, 2014. He allegedly paid her HK$750 for oral sex.
Choi claimed the girl told him she was 17 and he didn’t doubt her because she looked mature.
In Hong Kong, an adult who has sex with a girl under the age of 16 faces up to five years in jail. But because the case involved oral sex, Choi was charged with indecent assault.
But the magistrate accepted a defence citation of a British case, which allowed for defendants aged 23 or under to argue they had a reasonable cause to believe the victim was at least 16 at the time, provided it was the first time they were charged with unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl aged between 13 and 16. The argument, known as the young man’s defence, ultimately led to Choi’s acquittal.
Hong Kong has no guidelines on whether that defence can be used. But unlike in Britain, the city’s Court of Final Appeal has already determined that underage sex is an “absolute liability offence”, meaning it is not open to the defence to argue a defendant did not intend to commit a crime.
At the appeal last month, senior public prosecutor Mickey Fung Mei-ki argued the young man’s defence should not apply or it would create “an absurdity” as Hong Kong had imposed absolute liability for the more serious offence of underage sex.
But the magistrate told Eastern Court he considered these points when they were raised by the trial prosecutor.
