Hong Kong double rapist who scorched and tormented victim sentenced to 18 years in jail

A double rapist who lured victims to his home using social media, scorching one of them with a hot knife and threatening to kill her, will spend most of the next two decades behind bars, after being sentenced on Monday.

High Court judge Mrs Justice Judianna Barnes Wai-ling sentenced Cheung Tsz-hong to 18 years in jail, saying she needed to deter anyone who might follow in his footsteps, to reflect society’s abhorrence at the case, and to do justice for Cheung’s two victims.

Cheung previously pleaded guilty to eight charges over the assault, rape, robbery and illegal detention of the two women, named X and Y in court to protect their identities, in December 2016.

The unemployed man, who already had sex-offence convictions on his record, used Facebook to lure the two women to his Tuen Mun home, where he tortured and raped them.

He detained Y for days, during which he restrained her with plastic cable ties, before showing her the local horror film Dream Home, in which victims are killed with the ties. Y testified earlier that Cheung told her he would kill her that way.

“The way the defendant treated Y was sadistic, in that he derived pleasure from torturing and inflicting pain on that person while ... instilling fear in [her],” Barnes said, calling it an “appalling case”.

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She also noted it took just days for Cheung to get back on the hunt for a victim, targeting Y not long after he got into trouble with the police for raping X. The two attacks were just four days apart.

“The defendant knew full well he was a wanted person” when he raped Y, Barnes said.

The judge went on to chastise Cheung, citing the use of violence and his failure to wear a condom as aggravating factors.

A psychologist engaged to write a report on Cheung described him as an “immature, carefree and self-centred” person with a sexually promiscuous inclination and drug addiction, adding that he was likely to reoffend sexually.

The defendant, plump and wearing circular-rimmed glasses, was expressionless when the court interpreter told him the sentence.

Cheung initially denied all charges when he was brought to court last month, but decided to plead guilty after hearing Y’s testimony, which he said had worsened his chances of acquittal.

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Prosecutors said it all began on December 10, 2016 when X, then 20, agreed on Facebook to meet Cheung for the first time after he suggested paying her to look after his store.

Upon X’s arrival, Cheung tied her neck and hands with a white cable, raped her and assaulted her with sex toys. Police descended on his flat the next day to search his home.

But on December 14, Y told the court during the trial, Cheung was already approaching her asking her to play his girlfriend during a dinner with his grandmother, who would be leaving town soon.

Y, then 26, went along, only to find herself subjected to 72 hours of horror. Cheung, who detained her, ran a 20cm fruit knife along her thigh and face and restrained her with ties.

He also gave her drugs, slapped her and burned her thigh with heated blade.