A 39-year-old music teacher who had also been the homeroom teacher of a 14-year-old pupil was convicted of four sexual-offence charges by the District Court on November 11 and remanded.
The charges comprised two indecent assaults, attempted unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 16, and an indecent act involving a child under 16. The assaults related to June 13 and July 14, 2023; the other two charges concerned July 14. The prosecution said the teacher had asked the pupil to meet him alone in a music room, where he touched her, asked her to perform oral sex and attempted intercourse.
Judge Ernest Lin described the pupil’s evidence as honest and detailed. She recalled that on June 13 the teacher arrived late because of other work and removed his ring as he pushed her into a storage locker. He took off his mask before kissing her. The judge said the details were not made up and that she had done her best to give evidence.
The pupil initially did not want to pursue the matter. After entering Form Five, she later told others when she learnt that other students’ similar complaints had not succeeded.
The teacher said he disliked the pupil and had used a message translated as “I’m very lecherous” to scare her away. Lin rejected that explanation, saying the messages were suggestive and not appropriate language for a teacher addressing a pupil.
Lin said the case involved breaches of trust and professional ethics and that he would consider imprisonment. The case was adjourned to December 15 for mitigation, with a trauma report on the pupil and a background report on the teacher requested.