The chairman of Agile Property Holdings was placed on a one-year good-behaviour bond yesterday after touching a female employee during a night of drinking. Chen Zhuolin, 50, was bound over for HK$2,000 in Eastern Court after prosecutors decided to offer no evidence on two counts of indecent assault against him. Acting Principal Magistrate Bina Chainrai dismissed the charges. In July last year, the woman, aged 28, went to Chen's home to help with a dinner for mainland clients during which wine was consumed. By 11.40pm, only the woman, Chen and a colleague remained. They moved to a karaoke room in the house, where Chen and the woman danced and the other colleague sang. During the course of the night, Chen touched the woman's back and buttocks over her clothing in the karaoke room. In the bedroom, he grabbed one of her hands to make her touch him over his trousers. Early in the hearing yesterday, the magistrate had said the case was "too serious" to be dealt with by a good-behaviour bond. "This is not a case appropriate for a bind-over," she said. "These are very serious facts." When the case reconvened after a half an hour adjournment, Chen's lawyer, Chen Huan SC, said his client had "misread" the situation and that many bottles of alcohol had been consumed that night. This, he said, was a "borderline case". The magistrate then allowed the bind-over after confirming with senior prosecutor Teresa Kam Yuk that she did not wish to pursue the charges. As for the conditions imposed on Chen, he has written a letter of apology and an employment referral letter for the woman, and paid certain medical expenses, the court heard. The employee has left her post with Agile.
