CUHK academic who allegedly hid marital status cleared of indecent assault
An associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has been acquitted of indecently assaulting a woman who reported him upon discovering he was married, after a court found the pair had been mutually attracted and that the man may have wrongly believed she had consented to being touched. Magistrate Raymond Wong Kwok-fai acquitted Peng Peng, 38, at Sha Tin Court on Monday,…
A CUHK academic, Peng Peng, has been found not guilty of indecently assaulting a fellow scholar from mainland China, according to prosecutors. The court ruled that Peng and the complainant had mutually attracted feelings and may have wrongly believed the woman had consented to being touched. The incident allegedly occurred on May 21, 2025, after they met at CUHK's art museum and dined together in Ma On Shan.
Despite the complainant's invitation, Peng claimed he was busy and would see her the next day. The next day, the complainant learned of Peng's marital status and reported the alleged assault to the police. The magistrate found that the prosecution could not prove beyond reasonable doubt that Peng had indecently assaulted the complainant.
The court noted that the woman did not raise the incident of her waist being touched when she complained about the second one in the restaurant, and that both parties' bodies were moving while crossing the road. The magistrate ruled that Peng brought suspicion on himself by actually touching the complainant, and granted his application for costs on the first charge but not on the second.
Written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post - Hong Kong's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
