Hongkonger given community service for incitement over sexual assault case comment
Vincent Edwin Chau sentenced to 120 hours of community service for urging others to reveal sexual assault complainant’s identity on LIHKG forum
A former estate agent has been sentenced to 120 hours of community service for inciting others to expose the identity of a complainant in a sexual assault case stemming from a university orientation event in Hong Kong two years ago.
Eastern Court on Thursday sentenced Vincent Edwin Chau on a count of incitement to disclose personal data without consent over what the trial magistrate described as a “disrespectful” comment on the popular LIHKG forum.
The trial earlier this year heard that Chau, 32, responded to an online thread by someone claiming to be Tang Ho-yin, who was prosecuted for allegedly groping a first-year student at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) during an orientation camp event in August 2023.
The magistrate hearing that case accepted the complainant’s testimony that she had been molested during the event, but was not convinced that Tang was the perpetrator.
A day after the verdict, the person who claimed to be Tang wrote on LIHKG, maintaining he was framed by the complainant and another woman who witnessed the incident. He also said that he had suspended his studies at the university to focus on recovering from depression.