Yuen Long district councillor convicted of having intercourse with girl under 16

A Yuen Long district councillor, Sei Chun-hing, has been convicted of having sexual intercourse with a girl under 16 in a case that dates back over a decade. The incident occurred in 2011 when the girl, referred to as X in court, was 13 years old. Sei was found guilty of the intercourse charge but was acquitted of indecent assault, which he was also charged with. The case revolved around two incidents involving X in 2008 and 2011.

During the trial, Sei testified that he only met X in December 2008, not at the Ko Shan Road Park where the alleged assault took place. The defence presented a tree expert who confirmed the tree in the background of the photograph Sei showed was not native to the park. The judge dismissed the indecent assault charge based on this evidence.

Sei claimed that X did not come to his home on the day of the alleged intercourse and that they only met again at Tsim Sha Tsui after going to the MTR station together to have noodles. However, the judge questioned the validity of this testimony, pointing out inconsistencies in the timeline and the bright light in the photo metadata, which he suspected was altered. X herself testified that the photo was not taken on the date claimed by Sei.

The girl's lawyer suggested that she reported the incident to the police in 2023 due to seeing political posts from Sei, but she explained that she only remembered the past event after seeing Sei's campaign materials. Sei's defense questioned her motivations, implying that her actions were politically driven. The district councillor, a member of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, was elected to the Yuen Long District Council in 2023.