Hong Kong police officer convicted of raping woman he met online
Officer may now face life behind bars for attack at Kowloon Tong hotel
A policeman who admitted he was “scum” and begged a woman not to call the police after he raped her in a hotel room was convicted over the attack on Friday.
A jury of seven returned a 5-2 verdict on Lee Wai-ka after seven hours of deliberation at the High Court. They rejected his claim that the intercourse was consensual, and that the woman was framing him.
Deputy Judge Poon Siu-tung adjourned the case to Monday for mitigation before jail officers took Lee away. The 30-year-old policeman, who had denied one count of rape, faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The court heard that Lee met X – as his victim was referred to in court, to protect her identity – for the first time through a group dedicated to online gaming, a week before raping her on June 19 last year.
That night, X was invited to a party arranged by Lee’s friend in Tsim Sha Tsui and was said to have “drank to oblivion”.
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She was taken to a hotel in Kowloon Tong, where Lee raped her, the prosecutors said.
But Lee denied the attack when X woke up next to him the next morning, saying it had proved impossible for them to have sex. “You were crazy last night and hit me repeatedly,” he told her.
X confirmed she was pregnant on July 5 and sent a text message to Lee, who suspected the baby belonged to someone else, as – he claimed – X got drunk a lot.
It was not until X’s friend, a social worker, sent him a message claiming they had called the police that Lee began to change his version of events. He said they were a couple, and that the intercourse had been consensual.
He later went to X’s home in tears, referring to himself as “scum”, prosecutor Susanna Ku Pui-fong said. He promised X he would pay for an abortion, but later threatened to sue her for blackmail after he failed to pay up.
X eventually reported the case to police, despite Lee begging her not to.
During an interview with the police, Lee insisted he was framed, and that he had X’s consent when they had sex.
