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SCMP Reporter

A WOMAN was indecently assaulted by a senior officer at the police station where she was employed, Fanling Court heard yesterday.

  Superintendent Peter MacLennan, 45, of the New Territories North headquarters, denied two counts of indecently assaulting a middle-aged worker in the police station.

   The date of the first alleged attack is unknown, but it was said to have occurred in December last year.

  The second incident allegedly occurred on April 11 this year.

  The woman testified that in the first incident, the officer, suspended from the force, touched the woman's buttocks before grasping her hands and pulling her into the female toilets.

  'I said 'no way' and tried to free myself,' she said.

  She managed to escape.

    The worker said she did not report the first incident because she feared she might lose her job.

  She also believed that no one would believe her because of her inferior position at the police station.

   The court heard a second assault occurred at about 3 pm on April 11. Again, the woman was allegedly pulled into the female toilets.

   'Mr MacLennan pushed me against the wall and touched my breast,' she said. 'I told him that we Chinese were not easy people.'   The officer removed his trousers, fondled her breast and touched her private parts, the court was told.

  The woman said she managed to escape when the officer went into the first cubicle in the toilets and turned his back towards her.

  She also told the court that she had been sexually harassed at the mess on two occasions. She said he once showed her a magazine with a fat naked woman on the cover. He also placed his hand on hers while she opened the refrigerator in the office kitchen.

  Cross-examined by defence counsel Michael Lunn, QC, the worker burst into tears. She said she did not expect that the matter would be brought to court when she first made the complaint in April. She explained that she only intended to teach him a lesson and prevent him from harassing her again.

  The alleged victim said she did not consent to any sexual acts. She also denied she had an intimate relationship with the defendant.

  Prosecutor John Cagney said that after she had a discussion with her husband, she decided to take the matter further and told a police officer at the station on April 30.

  MacLennan was charged after investigations.

  The hearing before magistrate David Thomas continues.



Senior officer in sex assault case