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Magistrate describes violent attack on a mentally retarded woman in a church dormitory as one of the worst cases

A former Christian pastor was sentenced to 21 months' jail yesterday for bashing and indecently assaulting a mentally retarded woman in a church dormitory in Tin Shui Wai.

Magistrate Anthony Kwok Kai-on  sent Cheung Wai-chung, 41, a former pastor of Tin Yiu  Lutheran Church, to jail after hearing how he battered and sexually assaulted the 23-year-old on November 26, 2003. The attack came after she failed to obey his order to buy condoms.

Mr Kwok described the attack as 'one of the worst indecent assault cases' and said Cheung had 'destroyed the credibility of pastors'.

Cheung pleaded guilty on March 23 but denied he had known of the woman's mental disability.

The victim, one of her friends and a clinical psychologist were called to Fanling Court yesterday to testify to the facts of the case and the woman's mental condition.

A friend of the victim, Yeung Mei-mui, told the court that when she met the victim at a church in Kwai Fong in 2001, she realised she was not normal. 'I felt her behaviour did not match her age. For example, when I asked her an in-depth question, she would not be able to answer it,' she said.

The woman, whose name cannot be revealed, had an IQ of 47 and the ability of a seven-year-old, Social Welfare Department clinical psychologist Cheung Yiu-kwong told prosecuting counsel Alice Lee.

'The IQ score showed she suffered medium mental disability,' he said. 'When you ask a complicated question, she could not catch it. Yet she can manage to perform mechanical tasks.'

In sentencing, Mr Kwok said: 'When the victim failed to buy him the condoms to plan to have sex with him, he beat her up and attacked her to cause her to suffer wounds all over the body,' Mr Kwok said. 'You then ordered her to take off her trousers and asked her to jump up and down.

'Afraid of being beaten further, she did it and you fondled her breasts and you then lashed her with a leather belt. She became so frightened that she did not even tell her family members about it.'

Mr Kwok insisted Cheung would have known of the woman's mental disability when he committed the offence.

'Even the sexual encounter was not based on mutual consent, but gained from physical abuse,' the magistrate said.

The intended 32-month jail term was reduced to 21 months because of Cheung's guilty plea, he said.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hong Kong issued a public statement saying it had taken measures to terminate all of Cheung's duties.

'A disciplinary committee was set up to follow the case up,' it said. 'The church also resolved to terminate all his duties and remove his pastoral title when the case finished in the court.'

The church apologised for the damage to the victim, her family, the church and the Christian community, the statement said.



Pastor jailed for indecent assault