A fast-food deliveryman who had sex with a mentally retarded colleague was jailed for 15 months yesterday.
Mr Justice Derek Pang Wai-cheong rejected a lawyer's claim that Tam Kwong-lap, 50, and his 23-year-old victim had been in love.
Tam had pleaded guilty to one count of having sex with a person with an incapacity.
Prosecutor Lily Yew told the Court of First Instance that the offence was committed when Tam took the mildly retarded woman to a motel in Wan Chai last year and they did not show up for work. The crime came to light when she told her mother she was having nightmares and feared getting pregnant.
Responding to defence counsel Albert Luk Wai-hung, who said the pair had been in love, Pang said: 'Even if the victim was having sex voluntarily, she was mentally challenged and it was doubtful she was having sex with the defendant out of true love. Our law is to protect people with incapacities - someone like the victim.'
The judge took into account Tam's clean record and guilty plea to halve the sentence from a starting point of 30 months.