The defendant pleaded guilty to one charge of rape at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on 8 February 2021. Before me, he confirmed his plea and accepted the Summary of Facts. He was accordingly convicted of the charge.
The facts were briefly these. The complainant X was aged 42 at the time and she started using a “mobile app” called SweetRing in February 2020. The defendant approached her through the app on 15 February 2020 and they began chatting on the app and exchanged mobile numbers. On the following day, they met at a coffee shop and had dinner together.
On 19 February 2020, upon the defendant’s invitation, X agreed to have dinner with him at a hotpot restaurant again. Shortly before 6 pm that day, the defendant arrived at the restaurant. The CCTV cameras installed there captured the defendant putting some substance into the hotpot soup and one of the wine glasses. The defendant then left the restaurant and at about 6.30 pm, he returned with X. The two had dinner and drank some wine. When the dinner was halfway through, X felt dizzy. The CCTV cameras captured X leaning her head against the wall at about 8 pm and appeared to be uncomfortable. At about 8.30, X rested her head on the table and lied face down.
The defendant and X then left the restaurant shortly afterwards. When they were leaving, X had to lean on the defendant to walk. At about 9 pm, the defendant and X arrived at a hotel. X was observed by the hotel receptionist to be not sober and X had to lean on the defendant all along.
At about 1 am on 20 February 2020, X woke up and found herself lying naked on a bed inside the hotel room with the defendant lying next to her. Meanwhile, X felt that her lower abdomen was painful and there was some white fluid flowing out from her vagina. X then recalled that before she had completely lost consciousness, the defendant had performed oral sex on her and had sexual intercourse with her. X had said no and had tried to push the defendant away but to no avail.
When confronted by X, the defendant told her that they were both drunk and they had sex. X reported the matter to the police on 21 February 2020.
The defendant was later arrested and he admitted during a video-recorded interview that he had put some sleeping pills in the food and the wine, that is, one tablet of sleeping pill in the red wine and one crushed sleeping pill into the hotpot soup. He also admitted that he did not use any condom when having the sexual intercourse with X. During the house search of the defendant’s home premises, 40 white tablets containing zolpidem, which is a Part I poison and a sleeping aid, were found.
The Defendant’s Background and Mitigation
The defendant was born in Hong Kong in January 1966. He is now aged 55 and has got a clear record prior to the commission of this offence. He was educated up to Form 5 level and was employed as an IT programmer, earning about 68,000 per month.
In mitigation, Mr So for the defendant submitted two letters written by the defendant and her younger sister to the court. The defendant expressed his remorse and in the mouth of the sister, he was a filial son and a responsible person.
The court was also informed that the defendant had assisted in the arrest of a person said to be involved in a case of indecent assault inside a MTR compartment. He gave evidence as a prosecution witness in that case in 2019, however, the police could not confirm this as the defendant was unable to provide any court case reference number.
Mr So emphasised that the defendant was truly remorseful and his family has been ruined because of his commission of the present offence. His wife has filed a divorce petition.
The Victim Impact Report
According to the victim impact report prepared by the Social Welfare Department, X once had a vague suicidal ideation after the incident but she has now given up the idea. Nonetheless, X continued to have self-blame and still relied on sleeping pills daily. There was also occasional flashback of waking up at the hotel room. Moreover, high scores were reported in the Depression and Intrusive Experience Scales as to the impact of the event which meant that X had displayed post-traumatic stress disorder. X indicated that she would like to receive psychological follow-up and psychological treatment is recommended for her.
Sentencing in this case
There are no tariffs for the offence of rape. This is understandable for the facts could vary greatly from one case to another.
In the present case, I consider that there are the following aggravating factors:
Firstly, the offence was clearly planned in that the defendant had armed with him the sleeping pills when going to the restaurant and I had no doubt that he went there early so that he could put the drug in the food and the drink to be consumed by X.
Secondly, the defendant did not use any condom. In this way, there would be the risk of getting X pregnant and transmitting disease to her.
Thirdly, the use of sleeping pills to commit the rape would also run the danger of causing physical harm to X for it is not known whether X would be allergic to those sleeping pills.
Fourthly, the reported impact on the psychological well-being of X is not minimal at all and X would require psychological treatment.
The only thing which the defendant could be said to have acted responsibly is his pleading guilty to the charge, thus saving X from the further trauma of testifying in court. For this, he would be given the full one-third reduction in sentence. As to his previous good character, including his suggested assistance in the indecent assault case, I do not see it as any forceful mitigating factor given the serious and pre-planned nature of the present offence and the aggravating factors identified above.
Of course, when it comes to the starting point of the sentence, I am mindful that aggravating features are not to be reflected according to some mathematical formula for each factor. It is a question of overall and sensible assessment.
In this case, standing back and looking at the matters in the round, I take the view that for the facts of this case and for all the aggravating factors identified above, the starting point should be one of 7½ years.
The defendant pleaded guilty at the committal stage. I would give him the full one-third reduction in sentence. Other than this, there is nothing which would warrant any further reduction in sentence. 7½ years reduced by one-third is 5 years’ imprisonment and that is the term I impose on the defendant.