The father of the girl shook his head as the jury foreman announced that his panel had returned two unanimous votes, finding him guilty of an act tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice, and another count of conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice.

His 42-year-old wife was found guilty of perverting the course of justice, while his mother and brother were convicted of the conspiracy charge – all of them by unanimous votes.

Hong Kong girl who accused father of rape was whisked across border, court hears

The 44-year-old man’s father, who previously argued that he had no case to answer but failed to convince the judge, was acquitted of the same conspiracy charge by another unanimous vote. He was granted costs not covered by his legal aid, despite objections from the prosecution.

The judge will hear mitigation on Friday and sentence the convicted next Monday.

None of the defendants can be identified following a gag order aimed at protecting the girl, who was identified only as X in court.

The court previously heard that the Shenzhen-born girl, who was 13 at the time, filed a complaint accusing her father of sexual assault in October 2017.

The father was charged and remanded in custody pending trial on two counts of rape and five of indecent assault, with proceedings set to begin in the High Court on October 25, 2018.

Both the girl and her mother were summoned as prosecution witnesses, but neither showed up to take the stand.

Girl who accused father of rape says family stopped her from ‘telling the truth’

An investigation revealed that the mother had visited the father at Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre on October 20 and left for Shenzhen that afternoon with her daughter in tow.

A warrant was issued for the mother’s arrest and she was intercepted upon returning to the city with X via the Lok Ma Chau checkpoint on November 4.

When the girl finally testified on January 21, 2019, she agreed under cross-examination by her father’s defence counsel that he did not rape or indecently assault her. She also agreed with suggestions that she had fabricated evidence in a pre-recorded video interview.

The judge in that trial subsequently ruled that the father had no case to answer, directed the jury to acquit him of all charges and released him.

A case officer, however, had noticed the girl was shaking her head and behaving strangely during her testimony, and interviewed her again.

Father accused of sexually assaulting daughter ‘told wife to leave city with children’

Police subsequently gathered visitation logs and seized recordings from the reception centre and found cryptic conversations between the father and his wife, brother and parents during visits.

For instance, on October 20, the father instructed his wife “not to come back” from the mainland until after his release.

They were both arrested on January 23, 2019, followed by the grandmother, uncle and grandfather.

But again, the trial did not proceed smoothly.

A day after the prosecution opened the case, the defence sought to throw it out by applying for a stay of proceedings on the basis of an unfair trial, arguing that the girl’s police statements – made after her father’s 2019 trial – were not given voluntarily.

But the judge questioned how that was relevant to the admissibility of the girl’s evidence, and ruled against the defence after a week of legal arguments.

The girl subsequently testified that her grandparents and uncle gave her money. She said her grandmother also bought her a stuffed toy and a smartphone, while her uncle coached her not only to play dumb, but to make a bad impression on the judge in the original case by wearing heavy make-up and skimpy clothes.

“I really don’t understand how [one] can do such a thing to a 13-year-old girl, an 11-year-old girl, and tell lies,” the girl said.

On cross-examination, her father’s defence counsel, James Tze Ying-kuen, drew the jury’s attention to their strained relationship, and suggested the girl was giving her own answers in the previous trial, contrary to her claim of following instructions.