A former assistant warden at a residential home for the intellectually disabled in Hong Kong has been accused of raping a resident multiple times two years ago.
Chung Pui-kei has been charged with five counts of rape of a mentally incapacitated woman who lived at a home in Tai Po linked to the Hong Chi Association, an NGO, between July and August 2024.
Prosecutor Human Lam Hiu-man outlined the five alleged incidents at the High Court on Friday and called a psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist who had examined the woman to testify about her medical history.
A jury of four men and two women has been empanelled, with Judge Douglas Yau Tak-hong presiding over the trial.
Lam said the five incidents had been summarised from two video-recorded police interviews with the woman, known as X, as well as surveillance footage obtained by officers during their investigation.
Lam said X was now 23 years old but had the intellectual ability of a child aged nine years and 10 months.
During the alleged incidents in 2024, X had lived at the residential home, where the defendant worked as an assistant warden.
“From X’s perspective, this child with the intellectual capacity of less than 10 years old would think Kei sir [the defendant] was very friendly with her,” Lam said.
“He would always find her for chats, play video games such as Mario Kart with her and sometimes treat her to marshmallows.”
Three of the alleged rapes took place in a staff room for male employees and two in X’s room, Lam said.
In her opening submission, Lam said the victim had recalled the defendant locking the door, before undressing them both and raping her.
Lam told the court that X remembered feeling pain during some of the rapes and had said no or voiced her discomfort on some occasions. She had not dared to voice out during some instances for fear of being scolded by Chung, Lam said.
The prosecutor said police had found condoms and other items in a locker in the male staff resting room. Officers also identified a bedsheet from a female resident’s room that was found to contain the defendant’s semen and X’s DNA.
Psychiatrist Lydia Lam Yi-ngar of Tai Po Hospital and clinical psychologist Wong Yik-tung of the Social Welfare Department testified about X’s history of mental illness and her condition.
The psychiatrist said she met X twice in 2024 after the alleged incidents, on August 19 and October 21, and prepared a report on her condition for the case.
The doctor said X had been hospitalised in 2018 and 2021 for mental-health issues but had remained stable after taking medication and had required only regular check-ups since her discharge.
Lam also confirmed that she had diagnosed X with bipolar affective disorder.
The psychiatrist told the court that she had assessed X as “not psychotic” at her two check-ups in August and November 2024, and that the mildly intellectually disabled woman did not show any signs of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Defence counsel Lawrence Hui Cheuk-lun asked the psychiatrist whether patients could be prone to hallucinations “affecting the perception of facial features” if they did not take their medication regularly. He also asked whether the doctor knew if X had been taking her medicine regularly in July 2024.
The doctor said hallucinations were not a side effect of valproate sodium, a mood stabiliser that was one of two types of drugs X took, and that although she had relied on information from staff at the residential home on X’s medication, a blood test had shown levels of the drug consistent with the required dosage.
Clinical psychologist Wong, who assessed X’s intellectual capacity after the alleged rapes, will continue giving evidence on Monday. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
