Friend to HK tycoons gets prison for sex with minors
- Source: Global Times
- [01:50 March 11 2010]
- Comments
By Jiang Wanjuan
A 61-year-old Hong Kong man who has a close relationship with the city's influential tycoons was jailed for four years and eight months on Tuesday in the city's High Court, after admitting he paid to have sex with three girls he met on the Internet aged between 14 and 15.
Henry Chui Che-hung, a former director of an accounting firm and a father to five children, is believed to have paid to have sex with another 100 girls over a one year period, The Standard newspaper reported.
He stood trial last May after the victims told school social worker about their sexual experience with Chui, who reported the case to police.
Chui paid a 16-year-old girl whom he met through a website HK$250 for dinner. The girl later arranged for her 15-year-old sister to dine with him.
The 15-year-old girl allowed Chui to have sex with her on several occasions for up to HK$1,000.
Chui also paid one 14-year-old girl HK$1,500 for straight sex plus HK$1,000 for anal intercourse, after having met her for a meal.
Another 14-year-old girl was also paid HK$2,500 by Chui for anal sex.
"Have meals with man, receive HK$300 for each occasion, no body contact," was the Internet message Chui posted.
It was designed to lure immature young girls to meet him, but his intention was more than to simply have a meal.
Police searched Chui's office and found a video camera and recordings showing that about 100 girls were lured into sex sessions for cash.
Half of them were believed to be under age, with the youngest 14.
The girls in the video did not include the victims in the court case.
Police contacted some of the girls in the videos but they refused to testify.
In sentencing, judge Michael McMahon described him as an "Internet predator". Some of the city's influential figures who mitigated for Chui, included property tycoon Cheng Yu-tung and legislator Timothy Fok Tsun-ting.
A police campaign codenamed "Whale Driver," which began in September 2008, aimed to clamp down on abuse of so called compensation dating, considered a chronic problem in Hong Kong.
Compensated dating is a practice which originated in Japan, where people give money or luxury gifts, such as brand name bags, in return for the company of others. It can also involve sex.
Hong Kong police had warned young girls not to be lured by offers of money for dating, after a 16-year-old girl Wong Ka-mui was beheaded and her body dismembered by her compensated dating client. The killer was sentenced to life imprisonment last July.
