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SCMP Reporter

TAXI drivers in Fanling are living in fear of a female passenger who offers her body instead of her fare.

They say the woman regularly flags them down, asks to be driven around and then says she has no money but is willing to offer sexual favours instead.

The extraordinary case of Irene Leung Sau-ying, 28, has captured the imagination of the gossip-hungry Chinese-language media in which she has become a star.

Regular profiles of the divorced mother of a 10-year-old girl now regularly adorn the newspapers and magazines, and she has even appeared on ATV and TVB.

'My colleagues know about her because she is now quite famous, after having been on all the television programmes and also on the covers of some magazines,' said Liu Wai-hung, a taxi driver in Fanling.

'When we see her we turn around and go in the other direction. We are scared to pick her up because of an incident some time ago. One of the drivers gave her his pager number and she accused him of rape when he didn't return her call.' Ms Leung was fined $2,000 earlier this month for obstructing justice and wasting police time by making a false statement.

'I have not had any run-ins with her but some other drivers have picked her up, and one in particular said that she told him to just drive around. She would ask him to stop and then ask him to drive somewhere else. After a while when the fare was about $900, my colleague asked her how was she going to pay and she said she had no money but that if he drove to a quiet spot she would give him her body in return,' said Mr Liu.

However, the self-confessed former prostitute denied the claims of the taxi drivers.

'The drivers themselves volunteer to give me free rides and I do enjoy very much striking up friendships with them,' said Ms Leung, who now works as a karaoke PR girl.

'I'm not the kind of woman who wants to have sex with every man, but every normal woman needs to have sex, especially young women like me. It is just a matter of how much we can get.

'I don't have many boyfriends, but I have had sex with five different men in one day,' she added, before admitting that she had been propositioning taxi drivers for the past 18 months.

'I leave my daughter in my sister's care and I only see her once a month because I want her to be independent. She's a good girl because she knows how to cook and do the laundry. She is just like me because she kisses and hugs her classmates all the time in a very open and casual way,' she said.

Ms Leung also admitted to recently taking up a $300-a-day heroin habit to help her slim.

'I started because I heard that it is a good way to lose weight and I have lost over 25 kilograms in the last month or so. But I never do it in front of my daughter so she will not become a bad girl - and I can stop when I like,' she said.

To support her habit Ms Leung said she usually asked for money as a precondition for granting an interview. The Sunday Morning Post was not asked to pay her and no cash exchanged hands.

The territory's Chinese-language media have become obsessed with Ms Leung's casual frankness about sex.

She has appeared on TVB's Focus On Focus, ATV's Hong Kong Today, and in Eastweek and Next magazines. For her appearance on TVB, she was allegedly paid $3,000. Since her television appearances, she has made it known that she would be prepared to give details of her sex life for a fee.

Her obsession with the media limelight began shortly after the court case, when both TVB and ATV interviewed her on the same day. The questions and answers were very explicit, earning her instant notoriety from a fascinated public.

According to the local media Ms Leung has captured their attention because she is so forthcoming about her sexual escapades.

When Ms Leung was recently interviewed by television personality On Tak-chuen, who co-hosts the popular TVB current affairs programme Focus On Focus, during the taping of the interview, she propositioned On and asked whether he was interested.

On allegedly dropped the microphone on to the floor in disbelief. However, this was edited before the programme was broadcast.

Ms Leung admitted that she had always liked On but found him even more attractive after the interview. 'He is such a nice person, and was so well mannered and polite to me.' Although On was unavailable for comment, his assistant said Ms Leung had called TVB several times asking to speak to him.

'That woman has called several times and we are scared that she will just show up at any moment and demand to see him. We are having a party for the programme over the weekend [today] and are frightened that she might somehow show up,' the assistant said.

When asked about this Ms Leung said that she intended to go to the party, Christmas card for On in hand, claiming she had been invited.



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