Man slapped with eight year sentence for raping 23-year-old foreign domestic helper

A 60-year-old man was jailed for eight years on Friday for raping a 23-year-old foreign domestic helper who later got pregnant and underwent an abortion, with the judge blasting him for his crime where he plotted to take away her virginity. 

The defendant Lee Pui-hung, the boss of an air conditioning repair company, earlier pleaded guilty to rape, administering drugs to facilitate unlawful sex and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. 

The charges alleged Lee of spiking the tortoise jelly eaten by the helper, “X”, and raping her in a flat at Kwong Hing Building in Sham Shui Po on November 21, 2021, and offering X HK$2,000 as hush money on the same day as well as the next day. 

At the High Court today, Deputy Judge Eric Kwok Tung-ming acknowledged the serious nature of this case and noted that X was away from her home and family and remained financially dependent on Lee. 

Kwok also rejected Lee saying that he committed the offense out of impulse and believes he plotted his crime beforehand. Kwok added he couldn’t understand how Lee’s financial burden would push him over the edge, saying that raping X wouldn’t have helped with his situation. 

Kwok doubted that if Lee was financially troubled, why did he offer the HK$2,000 to X as hush money to cover up the rape. The judge blasted Lee’s apology saying it was superficial as it was without any concrete action. 

The judge also recalled Lee secretly making X consume more than just one zolpidem sleeping pill and forcefully taking away X’s virginity without using protection. X later got pregnant and underwent an abortion, which resulted in her severe anxiety disorder. 

Given Lee’s guilty plea, Kwok reduced Lee’s jail term to eight years. 

The court heard that Lee demanded X to eat the tortoise jelly covered with brown sugar and X felt dizzy later. She tried to go to the kitchen but fell onto the ground. Lee then helped X move to the bed and sexually assaulted her while she was in a semi-conscious state. 

X attempted to resist but in vain. Lee raped X without using protection for about 15 to 30 minutes and then told X, who still felt dizzy, to sleep and apologized to her. Lee also offered X HK$2,000 and asked X not to cry or tell anyone about this incident. 

After Lee was arrested, he told the police in a recorded meeting that he had sex with X after obtaining her consent. 

The zolpidem sleeping pill was later found in X’s blood and urine upon testing. X found out she was pregnant on December 6, 2021. She underwent an abortion on January 7 the next year and Lee’s DNA was found in the fetus.