Swedish businessman accused of rape in Hong Kong says Nepalese domestic helper initiated sex

Ekstrom told the court from the witness box that before the alleged rape, the helper came to his room twice while he was watching and masturbating to an “erotic film” that July.

This was during a period in which his wife had brought their three children back to her home country of Japan, he added.

The defendant said he did not ask the helper, who was of Nepalese descent, to leave the room on the first occasion and that he was receptive to the sexual invitation as a “man with human desire”.

Questioned by the prosecution as to why he let the second encounter happen, despite saying he felt bad about his infidelity, Ekstrom said: “Perhaps I was in a similar situation as I was the first time. I was pleasuring myself in the middle of that. I was aroused and lacked judgment at the time.”

Ekstrom denied that the helper offered to have sex in exchange for money, even though he gave her HK$1,000 and HK$3,000 after the two sexual encounters in July.

But he said the helper asked for “financial help” during sex, requesting he repay her debt of about HK$45,000.

Ekstrom told the court he was taken aback on hearing the request but agreed, saying “given the circumstances, I said yes, please continue”.

After his wife returned home in August, the helper frequently messaged him to remind him about the debt repayment, the defendant said.

“I feel I had agreed to it on questionable terms … I was not quite thinking straight,” he said.

The court heard that the defendant’s third intimate encounter with the helper, which the prosecution alleged was when the rape took place, occurred on October 27, after the wife took the children away and left home.

Prosecutor Diane Crebbin accused Ekstrom of dragging the helper into his bedroom while saying “I love you, I want you” and threatening to kill her if she did not comply.

The defendant rejected the allegation and said it was the helper who went up to his room again to “comfort him”, as he was “devastated” when he returned to an empty home with no wife and children.

Asked by Crebbin why he would agree to have sex at the time if he was in a bad mood, Ekstrom replied that though it was “maybe a breach of morality, [he] just wanted to feel cared for”.

According to the helper’s earlier testimony, she cried in her room after the alleged rape and left the house the next morning.

But Ekstrom shared a different version with the court, saying he had asked the helper to leave after he realised he did not want his marriage to fall apart due to their “immoral relationship” and wanted to put an end to it.

The court will return on Wednesday for the parties’ closing submissions. The verdict on Ekstrom is expected on Thursday.