Sex-case principal framed, court told
The defense counsel of a former primary school headmaster accused of molesting four teachers over a six-year period told Kwun Tong Court yesterday his client was being framed.
Diana Lee
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
The defense counsel of a former primary school headmaster accused of molesting four teachers over a six-year period told Kwun Tong Court yesterday his client was being framed.
So Yau-hang, 53, former headmaster of Yan Oi Tong Tin Ka Ping Primary School in Tseung Kwan O, has denied 13 counts of indecent assault involving the female teachers between September 2000 and June last year. To protect their identities, the women were referred to as witnesses A, B, C and D.
Apart from one incident that allegedly took place in Witness A's car, and another on a school staircase, the others allegedly occurred in So's office.
Witness A said So had molested her several times over the years in his office, on one occasion putting his arm around her waist and touching her panties and on another flipping the band of her bra.
She also accused So of putting his hand on her thigh as she was driving for a school meeting, and of touching 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 said she dared not tell anyone at the school as there was a lack of trust among teachers. Witness A said she told her boyfriend but he accused her of not doing enough to protect herself. They later broke up.
It was not until January this year that she told school supervisor Dennis Tin Ding-sin and, together with other teachers, lodged a report with the police.
Defense counsel Alan So said Witness A was framing the headmaster for personal reasons.
"You made the complaint a day before the headmaster was to announce the damning results of an investigation into the territory-wide system assessment, and in which you and Witness D were accused of cheating and likely to be reprimanded. You decided to strike first to gain the advantage," he said.
The Education and Manpower Bureau has confirmed the school was the subject of an investigation into cheating during last year's assessment of English-language competency.
Alan So also said Witness A often sat beside the headmaster and that she was the guardian of So Yau-hang's daughter.
According to the defense, Tin had told the teachers that at best their allegations could only be defined as "sexual harassment" rather than "indecent assault." Witness A said she could not remember what Tin said.
Witness B said on two occasions So had touched her on the neck or breast. She admitted she did not tell So to stop.
Alan So told Witness B it was hard to accept her explanation for choosing not to report the incidents - fear of putting her pupils in jeopardy.
"You might say I am selfish. But it is a shameful thing to talk about. You need a lot of courage to speak up, you won't understand it." Witness B said.
She said she was not afraid in school "as long as I did not have to go into the headmaster's room."
She admitted she had invited So to stay at her mother's mainland house for a few days but said her friends and future husband were also invited.
Asked to describe her feelings towards So, Witness B said: "I respect him as a diligent headmaster, but I cannot accept his behavior towards me."
The case before magistrate Gary Lam Kar-yan continues today.
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