Yuen Long district councillor jailed for 2.5 years over unlawful sexual intercourse with 13-year-old girl

A Yuen Long district councillor found guilty of having unlawful intercourse with a girl under 16 has been jailed for two and a half years, with the judge saying he lacked remorse.

Sei Chun-hing was sentenced at the District Court on Monday after his conviction in September. He was found guilty of having unlawful intercourse with a girl known to the court as X over a decade ago, but acquitted of indecent assault against the same person.

X was 11 at the time of the alleged indecent offence, and 13 when the sexual intercourse occurred.

Handing down the sentence, Judge Stanley Chan said Sei showed no regret over his actions and noted that the defence did not acknowledge the trauma experienced by X, who was in a relationship with Sei at the time.

Sei also did not use a condom, therefore exposing X to the risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, Chan said.

The defence submitted nine mitigation letters, including ones written by his wife – who said Sei was a responsible and good husband – and District Council colleagues. Sei himself did not submit a letter.

‘Positive life mentor’

Chan said on Monday that sexual crimes involving young children must be punished with deterrent sentences. Courts must protect young children who are prone to trust others, he said.

The judge added that Sei had relied on X’s strong feelings for him to take her virginity.

He said while the mitigation letters praised Sei as a “positive life mentor” and for making contributions to society, Sei’s behaviour in relation to X showed that his actual character was quite different.

The maximum sentence for having unlawful intercourse with a girl under 16 is five years.

A member of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, the city’s largest pro-Beijing party, Sei was elected to Yuen Long District Council in 2023.

Authorities said after the conviction that they would appoint a committee to investigate Sei. Possible outcomes include warnings, financial penalties, and suspension.

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Hillary Leung is a journalist at Hong Kong Free Press, where she reports on local politics and social issues, and assists with editing. Since joining in late 2021, she has covered the Covid-19 pandemic, political court cases including the 47 democrats national security trial, and challenges faced by minority communities.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Hillary completed her undergraduate degree in journalism and sociology at the University of Hong Kong. She worked at TIME Magazine in 2019, where she wrote about Asia and overnight US news before turning her focus to the protests that began that summer. At Coconuts Hong Kong, she covered general news and wrote features, including about a Black Lives Matter march that drew controversy amid the local pro-democracy movement and two sisters who were born to a domestic worker and lived undocumented for 30 years in Hong Kong.