A Hong Kong police superintendent has been acquitted of molesting and assaulting a female subordinate four times over a seven-month period last year, with a magistrate saying that the defendant’s actions could be interpreted as “being merely playful”.
Fanling Court on Monday heard that Chan Kin-yee, 42, was cleared of one count of indecent assault and three counts of common assault against the victim, known as X.
In her judgment, Acting Principal Magistrate Veronica Heung Shuk-han said Chan and X shared a friendly relationship as a superior and a subordinate.
Chan, represented by barrister Jackson Poon Chin-ping, earlier pleaded not guilty to all four charges.
Both Chan and X were transferred to Tsing Yi Police Station at around the same time last year, and Chan said he was instructed to mentor X, who was facing stress at work.
Last May, at a gathering at a bar with Chan’s former colleagues to celebrate his promotion, X accused him of patting, squeezing and caressing her thigh while sitting next to her for five hours.