Ex-officer jailed 12 years for police station rape

A former detective constable - described by a judge as sexual predator - has been sentenced to 12 years in jail for raping a teenager and molesting two others and a 21-year-old woman in a police station. Sentencing Leung Lai-chung yesterday, Mr Justice Darryl Saw said public outrage at the ex-policeman's 'reprehensible' conduct had been a factor in setting the term. The Court of First Instance heard earlier that Leung, 30, had called the victims to Mong Kok police station on the pretext of discussing cases they were involved in, then took them to the room used for identification parades and sexually attacked them - in one case, as the victim's mother waited outside. Leung was not involved in any of the investigations and had obtained his victims' contact information from police computers by using other officers' passwords. Saw said Leung's conduct had 'caused the Hong Kong public to reassess their trust in the Hong Kong Police', adding that the public took pride in the calibre and integrity of the force. 'What you did was reprehensible,' the judge said. Leung pleaded guilty on August 20 to four charges of indecent assault, one of rape and one of perverting the course of justice. He faces a separate trial on 11 charges of accessing a computer with dishonest intent. After his plea Commissioner of Police Tang King-shing telephoned the victims' families to apologise for their ordeal. A psychologist's report presented to the court yesterday said Leung had no deviations or perversions, but had a 'distorted sexual attitude' and there was a 'low to moderate risk' that he would offend again if this was not addressed. The court heard Leung lured each of his victims to attend interviews to help in investigations in which they were complainants or suspects. Leung molested his first victim on November 14 after the 17-year-old girl went to the police station at his request, accompanied by her mother. While the mother waited, Leung touched the victim and exposed himself, later sending her a series of 16 mobile phone text messages that ended on November 19. That day, Leung called in a 16-year-old girl who had been arrested for shoplifting and molested her, later sending text messages asking her to go out with him. On November 22, Leung contacted a 21-year-old woman who had reported the loss of her mobile phone and arranged for her to meet him at the station two days later. He molested her while they were talking in the identification parade room. The same day, November 24, he asked the 19-year-old rape victim to meet him at the station for investigation of her lost wallet. She arrived with her boyfriend and Leung asked her to come later without him. The girl returned later that night while the boyfriend waited for her nearby and Leung raped her. She complained to her boyfriend immediately after she left the police station and the couple hurried to Tin Shui Wai police station to report it. Learning of the report the next day, Leung contacted the victim and said he would pay her HK$100,000 to withdraw it. He said he did not want to lose his job and go to prison. Yesterday Saw said the assaults were not random acts, but premeditated sexual attacks that escalated in terms of gravity. The seriousness of the offences was aggravated because the sexual abuse took place inside a police station where the public had a right to believe they were safe. Leung had used his position as a police officer to target the victims and pursued them by sending mobile phone text messages and making telephone calls to them after having sexually abused them. The psychologist's report said Leung had been inclined to use sex to cope with stress arising from his divorce and conflicts with his ex-girlfriend since late last year. He had once become suicidal, attempting to jump from a height, slash his wrists and smash himself against a wall. Outside court, detective chief inspector Jim Ng Lok-chun said the force respected the court's decision and seriously condemned Leung's conduct. He said it was an intolerable crime, but an isolated incident that did not affect the integrity of police officers in general. Ng declined to disclose how many police officers faced internal disciplinary action over Leung obtaining their passwords. He said Leung would face trial in the District Court on December 22 on 11 charges of dishonestly accessing computers. In January, police chiefs announced that recruits would undergo psychological profiling from next year and ethics officers would be appointed to monitor behaviour. The move followed the release of survey results that found satisfaction with the force dropped nearly 8 percentage points to a seven-year low of 62.4 per cent in the last quarter of last year after media reports about Leung's case.