University of Hong Kong student gets 2 months’ jail for molesting schoolmate on campus

A University of Hong Kong (HKU) student has been sentenced to nearly two months in prison for molesting a schoolmate at a residential hall on New Year’s Eve of 2021.

A deputy magistrate told Tuen Mun Court on Tuesday the “very serious” nature of Poon Kai-yiu’s offences called for a deterrent sentence, rejecting the defence’s suggestion for community service in lieu of jail time.

Poon, 22, was convicted of two counts of indecent assault for rubbing his genitals against the woman’s buttocks and asking for sexual favours from her while exposing his lower body at HKU’s Lee Shau Kee Hall on December 31, 2021.

The defendant, a Year Three student of the global creative industries programme at the time of the offences, claimed he was under the mistaken belief that the victim, then in her fourth year, had feelings for him and would welcome his sexual advances.

Deputy magistrate Kevin Tang Tsz-kai rejected that assertion when he delivered his verdict in Eastern Court last month, saying it ran contrary to his allegation that the complainant had lied in court to frame him.