A police officer was sentenced Wednesday to 46 months in jail over multiple sexual assault charges in connection with abusing underage girls.
Yu Chun-hing, 35, pleaded guilty in December to eight counts of charges including possession of child pornography, indecent conduct towards a child under the age of 16 years, indecent assault and unlawful sexual intercourse.
In court, Judge Timothy Casewell said that the large age gap between Yu and the victims, the number of victims and the frequency of the assaults were factors considered during the sentencing, Stand News reported.
According to local media, Yu used his Facebook and Instagram accounts to approach girls online in 2017 and 2018. When he met them in person, he forced them to engage in sexual acts, in one instance paying two girls HK$200 (US$26) each at a carpark stairwell.
In another, Yu sent inappropriate texts to a 13-year-old girl, alias B., before asking her out to a park. There, Yu began touching her breasts and private parts, and asked her to help him masturbate. B. later stopped responding to his messages.
Yu was arrested in June 2018 after the mother of a victim found his contact on her mobile phone. While released on bail, Yu forced an intoxicated 14-year-old girl to have sex with him in the stairwell of her apartment.
At least six girls aged 11 and 14 were involved in the cases. At the time, Yu was attached to the police force’s Narcotics Bureau, and was suspended after the assault incidents came to light.
Yu’s likelihood of reoffending are “middle to high,” the judge said. During a plea, the defence argued that Yu actively sought psychiatric help while detained, showing that he was remorseful.
