Hong Kong rapist who spent 23 years on run to spend next eight years in prison
High Court judge says nightclub hostess victim deserves closure after Chan Kim-hung raped, robbed and held her captive over two days in September 1994
A former auxiliary policeman who raped a nightclub hostess in Hong Kong and spent more than two decades on the run will not be going anywhere for the next eight years after a judge sentenced him to jail on Tuesday.
Chan Kim-hung, 52, was given an eight-year sentence a day after he pleaded guilty to rape, robbery, and false imprisonment at the High Court. The offences took place in September 1994 when Chan, along with an accomplice, held the victim captive for two days in a Happy Valley hotel.
In sentencing Chan, High Court deputy judge Andrew Bruce said the victim was owed a sense of closure after 24 years.
“The fact that [the victim] was a hostess of a nightclub … does not mean she should be deprived of the protection of the law,” Bruce said. “It was clearly premeditated and involved a joint enterprise.”
Bruce noted Chan chose his victim at a Causeway Bay nightclub for her wealthy appearance, before luring her to a hotel, where Chan, and his accomplice Wong Wing-tak, bound her hands, gagged her and stole HK$400 (US$50) cash, a train ticket, a credit card and an identity card from the victim. Chan also raped her while Wong was out using her credit card to buy gold that they pawned for HK$14,000.
Police arrested Chan, who was a mobile phone salesman as well as auxiliary policeman at the time, later that year. He helped police find and arrest Wong, who was sentenced to seven years in jail in 1995 for the crimes.
Chan was due to appear at a hearing in 1995 but fled the city, spending the next 23 years in mainland China and Thailand. He returned to Hong Kong in January to face his crimes.
Chan also pleaded guilty to failure to surrender to custody for jumping bail in 1995, but prosecutors told the court on Tuesday the offence had not been in force when Chan failed to show up for the hearing. Bruce allowed Chan to withdraw his plea.
Chan spent most of his time on the run in mainland China before fleeing to Thailand, where he had an epiphany while working at a church near the border with Myanmar.
His lawyer Kwan Tong-lee said while there in 2014, Chan became a Christian and had decided to face his past after talking with a pastor.