Hong Kong man jailed for 16 months over broad daylight assault on schoolgirl he believed was following him
- The 41-year-old defendant is known to suffer from schizophrenia, and had gone off his medication at the time of the assault
- He is due to be released from custody immediately, as he has already spent 16 months behind bars
A Hong Kong court on Friday sentenced a schizophrenic man to 16 months in prison for indecently assaulting a schoolgirl on a busy street in broad daylight last year because he thought she was following him.
The man was set to be released from prison immediately, as he had already spent 16 months in custody before his sentencing.
Justice Poon Siu-tung on Friday noted the severity of the case, as defendant Chow Tin-shing, 41, had used force to harm the 16-year-old victim, but nonetheless accepted the defence’s request to release him, acknowledging that Chow was influenced by his mental state when he committed the offence and that his condition had improved during custody.
“This case was obviously caused by the defendant’s mental condition,” Poon said.
The High Court heard that Chow first became known to the city’s mental health services in 2005, and diagnosed the following year with schizophrenia, which he had managed to keep under control until March of 2019, when he missed psychiatric appointments and went off his medication.