Woman spared jail over forging PhD reference letter for Education University
A woman convicted of using a forged reference letter to gain admission to a Hong Kong doctoral programme has been spared jail and ordered to perform 160 hours of community service. Fanling Magistrate Kenneth Chan Ping-chau said on Monday that he had decided to “make an exception” for 31-year-old Li Zuer, who earlier admitted falsely claiming that a former teaching staff member at the Education…
A 31-year-old woman from mainland China has been spared jail time after pleading guilty to forging a reference letter to gain admission to a doctoral program at Hong Kong's Education University. Magistrate Kenneth Chan Ping-chau granted Li Zuer an exception from imprisonment, instead ordering her to complete 160 hours of community service.
The forged letter, which praised Li's "exceptional academic performance", was actually written by a Shenzhen-based agent. The original letter, penned by Li's former teacher at the university, highlighted her need to improve her English skills. Li had applied to doctoral programs multiple times before successfully enrolling after submitting the altered letter.
When university staff investigated, they confirmed that the teacher had not signed the forged letter. Li's legal representative emphasized that she had committed the offense due to high aspirations and taking a wrong turn after repeated unsuccessful applications. Despite the severity of the offense, which unfairly deprived other candidates of admission opportunities, Chan noted Li's outstanding teaching performance and law-abiding nature, leading to his decision to make an exception and accept her community service recommendation.
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.
