Hong Kong court orders care home and ex-warden to pay HK$1.19 million to woman resident sexually assaulted a decade ago
- Court orders warden Cheung Kin-wah to pay 70% of the money after judge finds him responsible for causing the victim pain and suffering
- Victim, then aged 21, has a mental disability and was unable to give evidence in court
A former Hong Kong care home warden and the institution he worked for have been ordered to pay more than HK$1.19 million (US$152,124) in damages to a woman a judge accepted he had molested while she was in his care 10 years ago.
The District Court on Monday ordered Cheung Kin-wah, a former Paralympian who suffers from severe visual impairment, to pay more than HK$836,000 to the woman after Deputy Judge Jonathan Wong of the Court of First Instance found him responsible for causing her pain, suffering and loss of amenity.
Wong also found that the care home, Bridge of Rehabilitation, was equally liable for the failure to ensure the safety of female residents under Cheung’s management.
“One has to bear in mind that [the victim] is a vulnerable person and the degree of breach of trust by [Cheung] is deplorable,” Wong said in a 71-page judgment.
“In the present case, it seems to me that both blameworthiness and causative potency both point to the conclusion [Cheung] should bear the majority of the responsibility.”
The court heard that Cheung, now in his 60s, was charged in 2014 with having unlawful sexual intercourse with the woman. But the woman, then 21 and said to have the mental age of an eight-year-old, was unable to testify and the charge was withdrawn by the prosecution.