Man jailed for six years for raping intoxicated friend after jury conviction

A 21-year-old man has been jailed for six years after a jury unanimously convicted him of raping a female friend who had become intoxicated after drinking with him and other friends. The offence took place in a flat in Tung Chung on 26 August 2023, when the defendant was 18.

The prosecution said the woman believed she was being taken home after the group left a bar in Tsim Sha Tsui, but was instead brought to the defendant’s residence. She testified that she was heavily intoxicated, asked him not to touch her and sought help from a friend.

A friend later collected her, and she reported the matter to police the following day. The defendant also sent her a message after the assault telling her to leave when she woke up.

Sentencing judge Anthony Kwok Kai-on said the defendant had exploited her intoxication and breached the trust between friends. He described the offending as selfish and reckless, said the defendant had disregarded its consequences and noted that no condom had been used.

A trauma report cited during sentencing said the victim still had post-traumatic stress symptoms three years later, including unstable emotions, anger and occasional screaming. It said her relationships with family and her boyfriend, along with her day-to-day functioning, had been affected.

The report said she had needed psychiatric intervention and that continuing psychological treatment was recommended. It also described a deterioration in her relationship with her boyfriend, difficulty with intimate relationships and a period when medication side effects led her to stop treatment.

The defence said the defendant had severe anxiety, hallucination-like symptoms, psychiatric follow-up and financial pressure linked to his grandfather’s medical costs. The court took account of his youth and lack of previous convictions, reducing the sentence by four months because he was 18 at the time of the offence, but did not regard anxiety unrelated to the offence as a substantial mitigating factor.

The judge told him to accept reality and do better after his release.