“This, however, does not give the defendant the licence to do what he had done,” the judge said.

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The High Court heard the 38-year-old warehouse assistant came across his 15-year-old victim online and met her on April 17, 2018 at a hotel in Yuen Long, where they engaged in intimate acts with her consent until he raped her. He paid her HK$700 (US$90).

Three days later, Chan told the girl she had been recorded inside the hotel room and sent her a photo of her fixing her school uniform, accompanied by recordings of moaning sounds.

He then asked her to think of ways to keep him quiet as he threatened to broadcast recordings at her school, showed her a doxxing group on Telegram – where 40,000 members discussed sex – and said he would first go to local online forums HKGolden and LIHKG if he were to publish the materials.

The case was reported after she spoke to social workers.

An impact assessment revealed the sexual assault left the victim with “clinically significant psychological disturbance” as she suffered flashbacks of what happened, which affected her concentration at school and made her withdraw from social life.

She also perceived herself as “a broken product” no longer deserving of respect, love and care, it said, and had difficulty trusting people and developing interpersonal intimacy.

Experts concluded that her sexual trauma was beyond her coping capacity and recommended long-term psychological treatment.

Chan had denied assaulting her and pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and criminal intimidation, but was convicted on both counts after trial last November by a jury of five men and two women.

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Prosecutors revealed that Chan had 38 prior convictions, which included 13 counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 16, four of indecent assault and two of criminal intimidation.

He was last convicted in 2016, of living on the earnings of prostitution by others, for which he was jailed for eight months.

In mitigation, defence counsel Andy Hung argued that his client’s offence “should be treated as something between attempted and completed rape” as Chan had not fully penetrated his victim.

Hung also emphasised that Chan did not use force or abuse any position of trust, and noted that the girl had not suffered any physical injury or contracted a sexually transmitted disease as a result of the incident.

The counsel further clarified that there never was a video recording, and said the girl could not be identified in the audio clips, which were never published.

The judge said that, while Chan may not have abused any position of trust, he had used his experience in life to take advantage of a very young girl.

Yau also observed that it was clear from the audio recordings that Chan was prepared and persistent in getting his way, despite the girl making it clear that she did not want to have sex.

“The defendant was clearly not only an opportunist, but had planned for the acts,” Yau said.

Although Chan did not ejaculate inside the girl, the fact that he did not use a condom remained an important aggravating factor, the judge said.

And there was a need to enhance the sentence, he said, given Chan’s “appalling criminal record”.

Rape is punishable by life imprisonment.