A 57-year-old minibus driver was sentenced to two years in prison today for repeatedly sexually assaulting his own daughter — who has a mild intellectual disability — over a matter years.
According to Ming Pao, the defendant was charged at the Wan Chai Law Courts with 26 counts of indecent assault related to incidents that took place between September of last year and February of this year, though the abuse has reportedly gone on long before that.
The court heard that the defendant and the victim’s mother had divorced, but the three continued to live together, with the victim sharing a room with her mom and the defendant sleeping in another room.
On Feb. 2, the mother came upon her ex-husband touching her daughter’s chest through her shirt. When confronted, the defendant allegedly admitted to having repeatedly groped the girl’s chest and privates, usually while drunk, since she was in her fourth year of primary school, and couldn’t remember how many times he had done it, HK01 reports.
He also confessed to the assaults during police questioning.
A clinical psychologist reported that the victim will likely endure lifelong trauma.
Handing down his ruling, the judge described the defendant’s behavior as heinous, and condemned him for grossly violating his role as a father and traumatizing his own daughter.
He added that while the assaults did not involve physical violence, the fact that they were against the defendant’s own daughter made the circumstances worse. Still, the judge only decided to sentence the man to two years in prison, well below the 10-year maximum sentence for indecent assault.
Read more Hong Kong coverage at Coconuts HK.
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