Sex attack story stemmed from mother's fury

An elderly man was caught in a web of revenge when his six-year-old granddaughter concocted a story of sexual assault against him, a court heard yesterday.

Magistrate Hugh Sinclair dismissed the 'inconsistent' testimony of the young girl, and freed the 67-year-old man, whom he described as 'normal and nice'.

'The child was used as a pawn,' Wong Hay-yiu, for the defence, told Eastern Court. 'The mother was pulling the strings behind all of this.' The court heard the girl's mother fainted when she learned last year her husband wanted to divorce her and live with his mistress in China.

The judge said a quote from 16th century English dramatist William Congreve that heaven had no rage 'nor hell a fury like a woman scorned' was appropriate.

The court heard the mother told her two daughters their father wanted a divorce. After saying at first they would have to live with him, she later said they would be staying with their paternal grandfather.

'You're going to have to live with that pervert of a grandfather,' she had told the girls, claiming he played with his wife's underwear.

Mr Sinclair said the six-year-old wanted to live with her mother and saw a way out of the problem after the remarks.