Hong Kong’s top court says ex-Evergrande executive ‘invited suspicion’ over dropped rape charge
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong’s top court has said a former executive of indebted Chinese real estate giant Evergrande’s “invited suspicion on himself” over a rape allegation that was later dropped.
Three Court of Final Appeal judges on Thursday handed down their reasons for dismissing Chen Fen’s bid to appeal a High Court decision that refused to cover his legal costs after attempted rape charge was dropped in November 2022. The prosecution said at the time the alleged victim was not capable of testifying.
Chen was accused of attempting to rape a woman, identified as X in court, in a flat on March 2, 2021.
The top court’s judgement revealed that, in coming to her decision, High Court judge Judianna Barnes had seen evidence that led her to conclude that Chen had brought suspicion upon himself for the allegation.
The court previously heard Chen invited X to a dinner gathering in Wan Chai, which was also attended by three former government officials and a number of guests. Nine attendees were later fined HK$5,000 for breaking the city’s Covid-19 social distancing rules at the time.
X got “extremely drunk” and left her shoes, underwear and a watch in the restaurant’s toilet, the court heard, and she was accompanied home by Chen who stayed there for more than 30 minutes.
CCTV footage of Chen arriving and leaving X’s home showed his shirt untucked “with some buttons undone” as he departed, according to the judgement. Chen was also said to have sent a message to the woman two minutes after leaving, saying: “I am sorry/My apology today, please take care.”
The judgement said X reported the alleged rape to the police the following day. Forensic examination found fibres from Chen’s clothes on the woman’s bra, and her saliva on both sleeves of Chen’s jacket.
X was also found to have bruises and abrasions which a forensic pathologist said could have come from her knees and legs being forcibly gripped.
According to the judgement, X said in a witness statement made to police that during the alleged sexual assault, she told Chen to “let me go, let me go. Do you know who my father is? He’ll kill you when he returns.”
She said Chen replied to her in Mandarin, saying: “I don’t care who your father is. I just want it now.” After the alleged rape, Chen sent X a message asking whether her father sat on an unspecified committee.
The judges said that while the court would normally grant the accused legal costs in case of an acquittal, it could rule otherwise if it found the accused had brought suspicion upon themselves.
“The evidence outlined above provided an ample basis for the Judge’s view that [Chen] had indeed brought such suspicion upon himself,” wrote justices Roberto Ribeiro, Joseph Fok, and Johnson Lam, the three judges hearing the appeal.
| 💡If you are suffering from sexual or domestic violence, regardless of your age or gender, contact the police, Harmony House (click for details) and/or the Social Welfare Department on 28948896. Dial 999 in emergencies. |
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