Edison Chen Koon-hei for the first time identified some of the female entertainers who appeared in his now infamous sex photos, but the pop icon told a Vancouver courtroom he was still determined to 'protect their innocence'.
After initially refusing to name his one-time lovers, Chen confirmed in Monday's hearing that Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi, Gillian Chung Yan-tung, Bobo Chan Man-woon and Rachel Ngan Wing-sze were featured in hundreds of racy images that circulated on the internet last year in a scandal that sparked his hasty retirement from the Hong Kong entertainment industry.
But Chen, who fled the media spotlight to Canada after the pictures surfaced in January last year, said he would not answer questions of an 'intimate nature' about the women. 'I am determined to protect their innocence,' Chen, 28, told a hearing in the British Columbia Supreme Court. 'They have suffered enough.'
Chen's testimony at the special hearing, carried out under Hong Kong law, will be used at the trial of computer technician Sze Ho-chun, who is accused of stealing the photographs that were later placed online.
The pop star had refused to return to Hong Kong to testify at Sze's trial, so special arrangements were made to allow him to give evidence in the Canadian city where he grew up and now lives. Chen had previously said he feared for his safety if he returned to Hong Kong.
Chen's former lovers are expected to be called as witnesses at Sze's trial, which is scheduled for April.