A 77-year-old athletics coach has been acquitted in the case of an alleged indecent assault on a teenage athlete eight years ago, an allegation among the few major #metoo claims to emerge in Hong Kong, according to reports.
The coach, who was identified in court as WH, earlier pleaded not guilty in the case, which was filed by a 23-year-old woman only identified as X.
The incident in question happened some time between September 1, 2009 and April 8, 2010, when X was about 14 to 15-years-old. X alleged that WH invited her to his house to massage her legs, asked her to take off her jeans and touched her private parts.
The verdict held the claims were not proved beyond a reasonable doubt, according to Headline Daily, with questions about inconsistencies in the woman’s testimony.
The case generated a lot of attention as the allegation was made amid the #MeToo campaign, a social media movement where women around the world began posting about their experiences as victims of sexual misconduct.
X shared her story after reading about the experience of Olympic gold medal-winning US gymnast McKayla Maroney and her allegations that a USA Gymnastics doctor repeatedly molested her, starting when she was 13 years old.
Throughout the trial, X defended her post saying her aim was to let the public know how some people had abused their authority and victims’ trust.
Upon handing down his verdict at Fanling Magistrates Court this morning, principal magistrate Ernest Lin praised X for speaking up about her experience, but said the court was not the place to push forward social movements, on.cc reports.
He added that the job of the court was to prove a case beyond reasonable doubt, and a verdict would not necessarily always reflect the truth.
He then went on to add that he hoped the outcome of the case would not have an impact on the #MeToo campaign.
The website reports that as the verdict was read out, friends and family of WH wept and hugged each other. As the defendant left the court house, he thanked everyone for their concerns, and said that the court decision was fair.
