Former Hong Kong Care Home Assistant Warden Convicted of Raping Resident

A former assistant warden at a care home run by Hong Kong’s largest NGO for people with intellectual disabilities has been convicted of raping a female resident five times two years ago.

A High Court jury of five men and two women on Wednesday found Chung Pui-kei guilty of five counts of raping a mentally incapacitated woman who lived at a Tai Po home operated by the Hong Chi Association.

The jury rejected the 38-year-old defendant’s contention that the 23-year-old woman might have fabricated the allegations out of grievance or jealousy after her romantic feelings for him went unrequited.

The trial heard that the woman, whose intellectual functioning was equivalent to that of a nine-year-old, considered Chung a “very friendly” warden who would always seek her out for chats, play video games with her and sometimes treat her to marshmallows.

Prosecutors accused the defendant of abusing the woman’s trust and raping her three times in a male staff room and twice in her room between July 13 and August 9, 2024.

The woman said she had sometimes refused or expressed discomfort, but had not dared to speak out for fear of being scolded by the accused, the court heard.

Police found condoms and other items associated with sexual intercourse in Chung’s locker. They also seized a bedsheet from the woman’s room that contained the defendant’s semen and the complainant’s DNA.