PhD student fined for splashing semen leaves Hong Kong, skips penalty review
Lai Changwei, 26, fails to appear at court hearing in which Department of Justice seeks review of sentence it considers inadequate
A PhD student earlier fined HK$5,000 (US$643) for splashing semen onto a woman’s buttocks has left Hong Kong before prosecutors could apply for a stricter penalty.
Lai Changwei, 26, failed to appear at Thursday’s West Kowloon Court hearing after the Department of Justice sought to review his sentence on the basis it was manifestly inadequate.
Lai, who was pursuing a PhD in neuroscience at City University on a full scholarship, pleaded guilty in August last year to a count of indecent assault for using a plastic pipette to squirt a milky liquid containing his semen onto the 22-year-old victim at the varsity’s Kowloon Tong campus on June 6.
The married mainland Chinese defendant, who lived in neighbouring Shenzhen, had blamed what he called a “careless” act on academic stress.
Magistrate Li Chi-ho, in sentencing the accused in September last year, highlighted Lai’s guilty plea and his lack of physical contact with the woman in opting for a financial penalty rather than prison.
Lai had been in and out of Hong Kong on multiple occasions after prosecutors applied for a review three days after the sentence. The defendant last left the city on January 12 and has not returned since.