Former care home warden jailed 13 years for raping disabled female resident

A former employee at a care home run by local charity Hong Chi Association has been jailed for 13 years for repeatedly raping an intellectually disabled female resident two years ago. The High Court. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Chung Pui-kei was sentenced at the High Court on Wednesday morning after judge Douglas Yau heard his legal team’s mitigation submissions. A former assistant warden at a residential care home operated by the Hong Chi Association, Chung was convicted of five counts of rape earlier in September after pleading not guilty. Noting that a psychological report assessed him as having a moderate risk of reoffending and being unremorseful, the judge condemned his conduct as despicable and did not grant him any jail term reduction. Yau added that a 13-year sentence was fair and just. During the trial, the court heard that Chung started working at the Tai Po care home 19 days before the first rape offence took place on July 13, 2024. Chung, who was 38 years old then, subsequently raped her four more times. Local media reported that the care home is the Hong Chi Pinehill Integrated Vocational Training Centre, which provides residential services. The victim, aged 22 at that time and identified in court only as X, has a mild intellectual disability, with an IQ equivalent to that of a nine-year-old. Hong Chi Pinehill Integrated Vocational Training Centre with residential services. Photo: Hong Chi Association. CCTV footage showed that Chung brought the victim to his office four times and entered her bedroom once, where police found semen on the victim’s bed sheets, the court heard. Judge Yau said on Wednesday that as an assistant warden, the defendant must have been aware of the victim’s condition. The judge criticised the defendant for exploiting the victim’s longing for care, using snacks and other items as enticements. The judge added that such actions constituted a breach of trust, were premeditated, and involved repeated offences, all of which served as aggravating factors in deciding his jail term. ‘Heartbreaking’ The police told the press following the sentence that they believe the jail term would serve as a deterrent for future offenders. Tam Ching-shan, a chief inspector who investigated the case, said it was “heartbreaking” that the offender took advantage of his job and role as a caregiver to abuse the victim’s trust and sexually assault her. Tam said the police hoped the victim and her family could “move forward and start a new life after the sentence” now that the case had ended. Police also reminded media outlets and members of the public that while the trial was over, a court order prohibiting the revelation of information such as the names, photographs, or addresses of the victim and her family remained in force. Anyone who violates the order will be regarded as committing contempt of court, police said. Safeguard press freedom; keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team Support HKFP | Policies & Ethics | Error/typo? | Contact | Newsletter | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps Make a one-off donation. Irene Chan is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press and has an interest in covering political and social change. She previously worked at Initium Media as chief editor for Hong Kong news and was a community organiser at the Society for Community Organisation serving the underprivileged. She has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Fudan University and a master’s degree in social work from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Irene is the recipient of two Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) awards and three honourable mentions for her investigative, feature and video reporting. She also received a Human Rights Press Award for multimedia reporting and an honourable mention for feature writing. More by Irene Chan