News report on Principal X , (2007.11.13)

Principal framed to stop cheating probe, court told

Diana Lee

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

The former headmaster of a primary school was set up by four female teachers to prevent him from disclosing their alleged involvement in cheating at the school, the defense counsel told Kwun Tong Court yesterday.

Alternatively, defense counsel Alan So said, if the court was to accept that four highly intelligent women had kept silent while being molested over a six- year period, then the four teachers must have consented to such body contact.

So Yau-hang, 53, the former headmaster of Yan Oi Tong Tin Ka Ping Primary School in Tseung Kwan O, denies 13 counts of indecently assaulting four teachers from 2000 to last year.

In his final submission yesterday, Alan So said the four teachers - identified as A, B, C and D - had made up the allegations as their wrongdoings in the territory-wide system assessment of English-language competency were about to be exposed.

He said the teachers were involved, in different degrees, in the cheating and consequently teachers A and D told the school supervisor of the alleged molestations just one day before the headmaster was to announce the result of his own probe into the cheating allegations to the school's board.

Alan So described A as the most cunning of the four and pointed to the fact that she now held a senior post in the school.

The defense counsel said it was impossible to believe that four teachers who were highly educated "and with backbones" would tolerate improper advances by a headmaster over a period of six years, thereby putting their pupils in jeopardy, just because they feared they may not get another job if they protested.

Magistrate Gary Lam Kar-yan interrupted at this stage, saying there were other mitigating circumstances at the time, including school closures and the reduction of class sizes in primary schools.

"Tin Kai Ping was a reputable school and its teachers would not find it difficult to get other jobs," So argued.

But the magistrate said: "Was it possible the teachers would have been safe as long as they remained in that school when it could have been difficult to get another job because of the school closure policy?"

Alan So said the prosecution had claimed that 15 teachers had lodged complaints but produced only four witnesses.

"Our submission is that the defendant did not do it," he said.

"However, if the court finds the headmaster may have committed such acts, we would have to say as an alternative defense the teachers had dropped hints they had consented to such body contact.

"They may not have consented at first but they must have consented to it later on to flatter the headmaster or to get a promotion."

In his submission, the prosecutor said the mother of D and the former boyfriend of C had testified of hearing about such incidents many years ago.

"The importance of their testimony was not whether the allegations were true, but the fact they had heard about the complaints several years ago," he said.

"It would have been ingenious for C to have made such an allegation years before it became useful for her to use it.

"C has since seen someone else and there was no reason for her former boyfriend to help her with fabricated evidence. "

He said the four witnesses had made such complaints shortly after beginning their work at the school and not, as the defense claims, just before they were due to be exposed.

The magistrate then adjourned the case and set November 29 for the verdict.

The former headmaster's bail was extended.

News report on Principal X , (2007.11.6)

Teachers set me up, says accused head

A former headmaster accused of molesting four female teachers over a six-year period told a court yesterday that his accusers had not performed their duties satisfactorily and turned against him to cover their mistakes.

Diana Lee

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

A former headmaster accused of molesting four female teachers over a six-year period told a court yesterday that his accusers had not performed their duties satisfactorily and turned against him to cover their mistakes.

So Yau-hang, 53, also testified his earlier offer to resign was not an admission of guilt, but made because he felt it would be difficult for him to continue if his teachers ganged up against him.

So, a married former headmaster of Yan Oi Tong Ting Ka Ping Primary School in Tseung Kwan O, told Kwun Tong Court he had made the pursuit of excellence his priority since he took over the school in February 1999.

He said he did not hesitate to scold teachers who were at fault as he wanted them to improve.

So said the four teachers - witnesses A, B, C and D - had been chastised individually for poor performances.

The defendant said his working relationship with A and D turned sour after he blamed D for not properly investigating allegations of cheating in the Chinese paper of the Territory-wide System Assessment, for which A was also responsible.

He said he had warned D he would reveal his own probe on January 25 and it was likely he, A, D and some other teachers would be penalized by the school's board of directors.

He also scolded B in front of other teachers - making her cry - and he twice rejected applications by C for promotion.

The teachers previously testified they had not reported So's molestations earlier as they feared for their jobs.

So disagreed. He said there were a number of new programs funded by the Education and Manpower Bureau that allowed all schools to hire more teachers. He denied making flirtatious remarks and he considered putting his arms around female teachers an inappropriate act for a headmaster. He said he offered to resign on January 31 after he was informed by the school supervisor that several teachers had accused him of sexual harassment.

"I was under great pressure," So said. "If teachers fabricate charges against me, it would be difficult to continue. I was also worried about the school's reputation should the allegations be leaked."

However, So said, after discussing the matter with his wife, he decided to retract his resignation the next day as he believed he was being unfairly treated. And he was prepared to risk the teachers filing police reports as he wanted to clear his name.

"I know if I am convicted, I may go to jail and lose my pension," So told the court.

When the defense spoke about the large number of social gatherings at the school, the prosecution interjected.

"What are you trying to suggest, that the teachers liked you, were secretly in love with you?" the prosecutor asked.

"I wanted to say that if I had acted improperly toward them, they would not have joined these activities," So answered.

"I put it to you they did so because they feared the authority of the headmaster," the prosecutor said. "I disagree," So replied.

So's wife, Ng Wai-hang, told the court the couple had been married for 23 years and she trusted her husband.

Magistrate Gary Lam Kar-yan adjourned the case to November 12 for legal submissions.

News report on Principal X , (2007.11.1)

Ex-HK principal accused of molesting 4 teachers

Scared teachers wore jackets for protection

November 01, 2007


HONG KONG




THE former headmaster of a primary school in Hong Kong has denied 13 counts of indecent assault involving female teachers after his lawyer claimed he was framed.


The incidents allegedly took place between September 2000 and June last year.

So Yau-hang, 53, former headmaster of Yan Oi Tong Tin Ka Ping Primary School in Tseung Kwan, was accused of molesting four teachers, The Standard reported.

The women were identified in court as witnesses A, B, C and D.

Most of the incidents allegedly occurred in So's office except for one that allegedly took place in Witness A's car, and another on a school staircase.

Witness A said that So had molested her several times over the years in his office. Once he put his arm around her waist and touched her panties, she said. Another time, he flipped the band of her bra.

The same woman accused So of putting his hand on her thigh as she drove to a school meeting.

She claimed that he also touched her buttocks 'to see what effect your gym work had on your bum'.

She added: 'It was the consensus among female teachers that they needed to wear jackets before entering the headmaster's room to protect themselves.'

She confided in her boyfriend, but he accused her of not doing enough to protect herself. And they later broke up.

She didn't tell anyone at school about the alleged molests until January this year until she approached schools' supervisor Dennis Tin Ding-sin. She then made a police report together with other teachers.

But in court, So's lawyer Alan So said that Witness A was framing the headmaster a day before he was to announce the damning results of an investigation into the territory-wide system assessment, where Witnesses A and D were accused of cheating and were likely to be reprimanded.

The Education and Manpower Bureau confirmed that the school was investigated for cheating during last year's assessment of English-language competency.

The defence claimed that Mr Tin had told the teachers that their allegations could only be defined as 'sexual harassment', not 'indecent assault'.

Witness B, who claimed that So had touched her on the neck or breast on two occasions, admitted that she did not tell him to stop.

She claimed that she hadn't reported the incidents out of fear of putting her pupils in jeopardy and because it was 'a shameful thing to talk about. You need a lot of courage to speak up'.

However she also admitted that she had invited So to stay at her mother's house on the mainland for a few days.

But she said her friends and future husband were also invited.

Of her feelings toward So, she said: 'I respect him as a diligent headmaster, but I cannot accept his behaviour towards me.'