A 50-year-old South Asian man and a 34-year-old man were acquitted of buggery and indecent assault charges on Thursday after the teenage victim, who has been experiencing suicidal tendencies, refused to testify in court.
The pair were each charged with one count of homosexual buggery with or by a man under 16 and one count of indecent conduct towards child under 16.
The trial was scheduled at the District Court on Thursday. However, the prosecution said the child, X, had developed suicidal thoughts after the incident and refused to testify to avoid reliving the trauma.
The prosecution consequently offered no evidence against the two defendants. Both pleaded not guilty in court, and District Judge Stanley Chan Kwong-chi subsequently acquitted them.
Chan then remarked that while the details of a case are typically not read out in court under such circumstances, the unique nature of this case warranted an exception. For the sake of public justice, he expressed the intent to read the summary of facts to facilitate further investigation by the police.
The court heard that the case came to light after X had an argument with his mother and disclosed that he had engaged in sexual relations with men he met on a dating app.
The 50-year-old was accused of anal and indecent acts with the then 13-year-old X at a construction site on Ma Tau Wai Road in To Kwa Wan, one day between April and June, 2022.
While the 34-year-old faced similar charges for offenses with the then 15-year-old X in a flat at The Pavilia Farm in Sha Tin on August 15, 2024.
Following the acquittal, the 50-year-old’s defense team applied for legal costs, arguing that the prosecution should not have built its case on evidence from an emotionally unstable victim.
Chan dismissed the application, remarking that victims of sexual offenses invariably suffer from mental stress, and this does not automatically render their evidence unreliable.
