A HIGH Court judge warned yesterday that youth was no licence to commit rape.
Imposing a five-year jail term on Lee Wing-on, 16, for raping a 13-year-old schoolgirl, Mr Justice Leong said he appreciated that young criminals should be given a chance to reform, but it was also necessary for the court to impose a sentence which would deter people, however young they were, from committing crimes such as this.
The judge sentenced Choi Chi-ho, 19, to six years' jail for aiding and abetting rape. Choi had threatened the girl with a chopper and forced her to have sex with Lee.
Lee and Choi had both denied the offence, but were found guilty by a jury after trial.
Senior assistant Crown prosecutor Mr Harry Macleod had called evidence that the girl and a group of friends visited a holiday villa on Cheung Chau in the early hours of March 22 last year.
When she refused to have sex with Lee, Choi produced a chopper and threatened to kill her unless she consented. She did not dare to resist.