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SCMP Reporter

Man jailed for 61/2 years for two counts of indecent assault on his pre-teen niece

A young girl molested by her uncle had been warned by her mother that she was having too much contact with her attacker, the Court of First Instance heard yesterday.

The uncle also blamed the girl in interviews with a probation officer after he was charged with indecent assault, Madam Justice Clare- Marie Beeson  said.

But she said the 36-year-old defendant had to bear the responsibility for the incidents 'as a man and an adult' and jailed him for  61/2 years. The court heard the man, who had admitted two charges of indecent assault, had molested the girl, now 14, in 1999 and 2002, when she was aged eight and 11.

He was in serious breach of the trust placed upon him by the family of the victim, Madam Justice Beeson said.

Citing background reports, she said the mother - the elder sister of the attacker - had warned the girl about 'making too much physical contact with her uncle' before the incidents were disclosed.

The victim revealed the two incidents after a lecturer gave a talk at her school last year on preventing sexual harassment.

Although the offences were serious, the family decided not to report them to the police at first. They did so only when the uncle tried to contact his niece by telephone and waited outside her home.

After the report was made, the girl's father confronted the uncle when he appeared outside a restaurant where the father and daughter were eating. The defendant said: 'Whatever I've done wrong was done, and it's up to you what to do about it.'

The uncle had maintained an attitude of 'avoidance' and initially put the blame on his victim when the probation officer wanted to start a discussion with him about the assaults, the judge said.

A report showed that any traumatic impact on the victim was only minimal and that she did not find difficulty getting along with friends of the opposite sex.

The relationship between the girl and her parents had also improved as she had started to talk more frankly about herself since the incidents were divulged.

A campaigner against sexual violence stressed that no blame should be placed on the girl.

'I would be quite disappointed if the mother of the victim put the blame on her daughter, while the responsibility should be, in fact, shouldered by the adults instead,' said Irene Ng Wai-ching,  service co-ordinator of the Association Concerning Sexual Violence Against Women.

'Small children always trust the adults. But in the present case, the defendant betrayed the victim,' she said.

Ms Ng said sex education within families was  crucial to protect small children from sexual attacks.

'If the child knows there's a way to talk about the events, the matter could be revealed earlier,' she said, adding that children needed to be encouraged to say  if  a sexual attack had taken place.



Child abuser tried to blame victim