SCMP
- Constable Lai Tsz-leung admits trying to have sex with teenager in hotel room in late 2021
- Disgraced officer carefully planned offence, Deputy Judge Bernard Chung says
A Hong Kong judge has expressed concerns over a “severe lack of compliance with the law” among youngsters in the city after he sentenced a 28-year-old police officer to 16 months in jail for attempting to have sex with a 15-year-old girl.
The District Court on Thursday passed the sentence on Constable Lai Tsz-leung after he admitted trying to have sex with the teenager in a hotel room in late 2021.
Deputy Judge Bernard Chung Wai-keung said the disgraced officer had carefully planned the offence, noting he had appealed to the girl by leveraging his professional role and donning his uniform during the attempted act.
“The present case reflects a worrying trend recently in Hong Kong, that is, a severe lack of compliance with the law nowadays among the younger generations,” Chung said.
“They fail to appreciate the consequences of their offences, and when their crimes come to light that they have to bear responsibility, it is already too late to turn back because the damage has been done.”
The deputy judge added he was particularly disturbed by the fact that Lai had already served in the force for three years at the time of his transgression.
But he said he believed the accused was only one of the few rotten apples in the “professional” police force, whose reputation had been sullied by the constable.
Lai pleaded guilty to attempting to have unlawful sex with a girl under the age of 16 after striking a plea bargain with the prosecution, who agreed to drop a second charge of producing child pornography.
