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Joyce Man

A social worker has been jailed for eight years in Hong Kong  in a landmark case brought under a law that enables cross-border prosecution of some sex crimes. He was convicted of molesting two teenagers at a mainland children's home he founded. 
Francis Lee Kwok-wah, 49, was sentenced at the Court of First Instance yesterday for having sex with one girl multiple times and inappropriately touching another. 
Hong Kong police opened an investigation in August 2008 that took them to the children's home in Guangxi province after receiving a complaint in Hong Kong. 
The girls in the case were brought to Hong Kong and testified during the trial.
Handing down the sentence, Mr Justice Derek Pang Wai-cheong said the purpose of opening a home was to protect children, and Lee had gone against that, committing 'a breach of trust of the most serious kind'. 
He said the offences had taken place at the home and in nearby hostels involving one girl aged 15 at most and one of about 16.
Pang said the fact that Lee's acts took place across the border had affected the image of Hong Kong charitable organisations in the mainland. 
Lee never used a condom when having sex with the younger girl and expressed no remorse for his actions. 
A married father of two, Lee was found guilty by the jury of three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a child of under 16, one of indecent conduct towards a child under 16, and one of indecent assault. 
Lee's barrister, Katherine Wong Kam-kuen, said her client's wife, daughters, and brothers had described him as a good father, husband and sibling who had helped many people in his work and as a volunteer, including working with the Hong Kong Red Cross for more than 20 years.  
One volunteer who helps orphans in Guangxi and who had previously donated money to Lee's children's home said the sentence was higher than he had hoped for, though it would have been even better if the jail term were longer. 
Lee contracted polio when he was a year old and has trouble walking. 'He used people's sympathy for his handicap to get their money, then he used the money to fool around with the girls,' Chan Wing-hang said.
The court heard during the trial that the children at the home were either orphans or poor. Lee had given the younger girl an MP3 player, a bank card, a T-shirt and a key to his room at the home, where there was a computer. 
The prosecution was launched under section 153P of the Crimes Ordinance, which came into effect in 2003 and gives extraterritorial effect to some of Hong Kong's sexual  offences provisions.
This means a Hong Kong resident or corporate body registered here can be prosecuted for sex offences against a person under 16 even if the offences were committed outside  the city.
The law was introduced  against a background of broader international moves to widen the net against sex offenders and crack down on child pornographers and sex tourists who prey on under-age boys and girls.
Lee's association's website was taken offline yesterday after media reported that its online fund-raising was continuing despite Lee having been convicted.
Police declined to say whether they had launched an investigation in relation to the website. But police said members of the public should report any fund-raising activities they suspected of being fraudulent or deceptive. 
The Social Welfare Department spokesman said Lee had been suspended from his civic duty as a social work assistant since his arrest. It is considering disciplinary action against him, and it is possible he could be dismissed.
The Social Workers Registration Board said it would announce a decision in the middle of this month as to whether to approve Lee's application to renew his registration, which  expired in September.
Should Lee's application be rejected, he would be the first social worker in the city to be deprived of registration because of sex-related offences.



Social worker gets eight years for child sex