A 38-year-old secondary school English-language teacher was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison by a district court yesterday for having illegal sexual intercourse, as he indecently assaulted his 15-year-old female student after luring her to his home under the pretense of watching a Netflix film.

Fung Ting-fai has been convicted of two counts of indecent assault and five of intercourse with a girl under 16 between January and August 2019.

Judge Stanley Chan Kwong-chi said the victim's life has been completely ruined as a result but Fung has shown no remorse.

The court heard that Fung started to text the student in December 2018, and invited her to watch films on Netflix at his home. The teenager visited him at home six times and had sex with him on five of those occasions.

In sentencing, Chan said Fung should generally try as a boyfriend to make his girlfriend happy while also imparting as a teacher the values of knowledge and virtue to his students.

Instead he used sweet words and his status as a teacher to immerse the girl in an "atmosphere of love" that led her to agree to have sex with Fung in the belief that they were in a romantic relationship.

In reality, Chan said, he might have just regarded her as no more than an "free escort."

Chan added that the girl had a miserable childhood as her father and mother never married and she was raised by her grandfather.

The girl had a history of depression and needed to take medication. She was devastated by her grandfather's death when she was in secondary one, and often suffered when her mother and her stepmother got into quarrels.

Fung showed care to the girl when he taught her in secondary four and gained her trust, Chan said, however he abused this trust and manipulated her into having sexual intercourse with him.

The girl had to endure pain during intercourse and worried about becoming pregnant as Fung refused to wear condoms. She also suffered from a moral predicament as Fung asked her to keep their relationship a secret, which exacerbated the girl's depression and anxiety.

Chan said when the girl found out that Fung was having a romantic relationship with another student at the same time, she felt betrayed and realized Fung was only using her for sex.

Judge Stanley Chan

Prison lesson for sexual predator