Hong Kong labour chief defends 2-month delay in announcing cases of suspected sexual assault at care home for disabled
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong’s labour chief has defended a two-month delay in announcing cases of suspected sexual assault at a care home for the disabled, saying time was needed to ensure the victims were emotionally stable before publicising it.
Chris Sun, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, addressed the incident that happened at a care home run by the Hong Chi Association on Thursday.
His comments came a day after the NGO and the Social Welfare Department released statements about a suspected abuse incident at the Hong Chi Pinehill Integrated Vocational Training Centre in Tai Po in August. A staff member was suspected of abusing two people at the care home and was arrested, the association and the government department said.
In response to a question from a reporter on why it took two months for the incident to be made public, Sun said the timing had to be chosen carefully.
“[Before] announcing, we have to do something very important, and that is making sure that the two victims and their families are emotionally and mentally stable and can accept [the incident being made public],” he said.
Sun added that the victims and their families had already been hurt once, and the authorities and the association had to ensure they were not hurt again.
“As I said, they have already been hurt. We have to ensure they are not hurt a second time,” Sun said.
According to the Hong Chi Association’s website, the Pinehill Integrated Vocational Training Centre serves adults with mild and moderate intellectual disabilities. It also offers residential services.
Suspected rape, sexual assault
The Hong Chi Association, one of the city’s largest NGOs serving people with intellectual disabilities, said in a statement on Wednesday that it was alerted to the incident after a parent inquired with concerns about their child’s injury.
Following a review of CCTV footage, it was found that two service recipients were suspected to have been harmed by a staff member. The association then terminated the staff member and set up an independent committee to look into the case.
The Social Welfare Department said in its statement on Wednesday that it “took immediate follow-up actions” after learning of the incident, including deploying officers to conduct unannounced inspections.
In response to HKFP, police said on Thursday that they received a report in August from a staff member at a care home in Tai Po. The report was of suspected sexual assault involving a 21-year-old woman and a 29-year-old man.
A 38-year-old man was arrested and legal procedures are underway, police said.
Citing sources, local media outlets said the suspect was charged with raping the woman and sexually assaulting the man.
The Social Welfare Department issued a warning to the care home on August 28. Under “warning item,” it cited a section of the code of practice for care homes, which states that people with disabilities should be protected from abuse.
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