Four-and-a-half-year jail term for ‘lesbian’ maid who had sex with Hong Kong boy aged eight
Judge slams domestic helper for flagrant breach of duty and says the youngster will need a long time to recover from the psychological damage
A domestic helper who repeatedly had sex with an eight-year-old boy was jailed for four-and-a-half years on Thursday for what a judge called a flagrant breach of duty that had caused much psychological damage.
“The victim suffered much in the hands of the defendant,” Judge Johnny Chan Jong-herng said in the District Court when sentencing the 45-year-old Filipino woman.
“The defendant’s duty was to take care of the victim when his parents were away, but she flagrantly breached that duty and assaulted the boy.”
The judge said the boy would need a long time to recover.
The helper, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was convicted after trial in February on three counts of indecent assault, which she had denied, claiming she was a lesbian.
The court heard that the series of assaults began in July 2011 after the helper threw a temper and told the boy she would no longer look after him.
When the boy urged her not to leave, she took him into her room, took off his pants, molested him and had penetrative sex with him. He was eight.
A similar assault took place a week later, with the helper using the same method to get the boy into having sex with her.
The helper had sex with the boy again almost two years later, after she made him sit on a toilet seat and molested him.
But these events only came to light last July, when the boy learnt about animal reproduction at the age of 13.
I believe he was feeling shameful about this experience … That’s my clinical judgment
Princess Margaret Hospital’s clinical psychologist Dr Barry Tam Ka-hang said the boy appeared calm and settled during his three interviews before the start of trial.
A follow-up impact assessment conducted this month by another clinical psychologist, however, found the boy showing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, such as having recurrent nightmares.
Upon a request from the defence to explain the discrepancies, Tam said the boy might have underreported the symptoms as he was quite surprised to find the boy reporting no symptoms before receiving treatment.
“I wouldn’t believe he would have no symptoms without any treatment. I can’t find any scientific explanation for that,” Tam testified.
“I believe he was feeling shameful about this experience … That’s my clinical judgment.”
Tam also revealed that the boy had once mentioned he was “afraid of being counter-sued”.
The helper, who lived with the boy’s family between 2007 and 2013, had a clean criminal record since arriving Hong Kong in 2001.
In her self-defence, she had told the court she was a lesbian and described the boy as imaginative.
A pre-sentencing psychologist report did not ascertain whether the helper was suffering from any psychopathology. But it noted that she evaded responsibility and tried to blame the boy’s parents.
