University of Hong Kong student to be sentenced over 2021 indecent assault, remanded in custody
Hong Kong Free Press
A student from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) has been found guilty of committing indecent assault in a dormitory in 2021.
Defendant Poon Kai-yiu was remanded in custody after he was convicted at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on Tuesday, local media reported. He will face sentencing on September 3.
Poon stood trial in June after he denied two counts of indecent assault. He was said to have touched a female student with his genitals inside her room at Lee Shau Kee Hall on December 31, 2021.
According to media reports, the victim, identified as “X” in court, testified that she was friends with the defendant before the offence took place. They met at an an orientation camp where X was a group leader, a role colloquially known as the “group mother,” and Poon was a member of her group.
On the day of the offence, Poon, X and a group of friends held a gathering in a pantry at the residential halls in Pokfulam. After the gathering ended at around 7 a.m., Poon, X and three others decided to go to X’s room to continue chatting and drinking.
Around an hour later, two people left, leaving Poon, X and another individual, who fell asleep, in the room. X testified that that, while she was tidying the bookshelf, Poon touched her bottom with his private part. He also remarked that the victim had suggested he wanted to have sex with her.
X also claimed that Poon had exposed his genitals, which the defendant denied.
The defence claimed during trial that Poon was drunk at the time of the offene. But Deputy Magistrate Kevin Tang rejected the argument and said the defendant kept changing his evidence and his testimony was unreliable, local media reported on Tuesday.
Under Hong Kong law, indecent assault is punishable by up to ten years of imprisonment. The prison term meted out by a magistrates’ court is capped at two years.
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