Hong Kong footballer in city squad 8 months after rape conviction overturned
BC Rangers No 1 Yip Ka-yu could be poised for city team debut, Roberto Losada names squad for Lunar New Year Cup match against FC Seoul
The BC Rangers goalkeeper, Yip Ka-yu, has been selected for Hong Kong eight months after his rape conviction was overturned.
Yip is in a 23-man squad for next weekend’s Lunar New Year Cup meeting with FC Seoul at Hong Kong Stadium.
The 29-year-old has kept two clean sheets in 13 matches since joining Rangers on the eve of this campaign. He was in the team that beat Eastern last Sunday to progress to the Senior Shield final, where Rangers will play Tai Po at Mong Kok Stadium next Wednesday, three days before Hong Kong host K League 1 side Seoul on February 21.
In October 2023, Yip was sentenced to five years and three months in prison after he was convicted of raping a 17-year-old girl.
His conviction and sentence were quashed last June in The Court of Appeal, after it determined that Yip had been left with no chance of receiving a not-guilty verdict, because the trial judge did not mention to the jury that the defendant might have been under the “genuine but mistaken belief” that the complainant agreed to have sex with him.
Yip, whose last Premier League appearance before his conviction was in January 2020 for Yuen Long, has also played for Lee Man, Eastern District and Metro Gallery.