Hong Kong court clears student of groping woman at university orientation camp

Fanling Court clears Tang Ho-yin of indecent, common assault charges over incidents at University of Hong Kong orientation event in August of last year

Magistrate says court believes testimonies of victim X and witness A, but notes there is lack of evidence to identify Tang as perpetrator

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The court has said it is not reassured that relying on witness’ account of a brief instance at the event will satisfy criminal law standards. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 2:57pm, 6 May 2024Updated: 3:37pm, 6 May 2024

A university student has been acquitted of groping a woman at an orientation event last year after a Hong Kong court ruled there was insufficient evidence to identify him as the perpetrator.

Fanling Court cleared Tang Ho-yin, a second-year student at the University of Hong Kong, of two charges of indecent assault and common assault on Monday.

Magistrate Frances Leung Nga-yan said that while the court believed the testimonies of victim X and witness A, a friend of the former who also attended the camp, to be truthful, the prosecution could not prove without reasonable doubt that the person who committed the assault was the defendant.

Tang was earlier accused of groping X, a first-year student, during an activity for the camp’s “disco night” event on August 20 of last year, followed by a second incident at a dormitory lounge the next day.

Leung said the case’s biggest dispute centred on whether it was Tang who allegedly assaulted X on the first occasion.

The magistrate said the burden of identifying the perpetrator had fallen on A in this instance, as X testified she could not see the perpetrator’s face during the disco night activity.

The court also heard there were no surveillance cameras in the immediate area and no other attendees of the party had mentioned witnessing the incident.