Repeat paedophile handed 2-year sentence after exploiting loophole to molest girl during 2022 volunteering stint at Hong Kong community centre

A sex offender has been sentenced to two years in jail for exploiting a loophole in a background check scheme to molest a six-year-old girl while volunteering at a Hong Kong community centre last year.

Deputy judge David Ko Wai-hung told the District Court on Monday that Ching ka-lun, 36, might have knowingly circumvented the administrative safeguards against child sex offenders to approach minors again after his first conviction in 2015.

Ko called on the authorities to expand background checks to anyone working with children, as well as people with mental illnesses, regardless of the nature of their job.

“I understand that in enacting the protocol, considerations were given to strike a balance between protecting children and safeguarding personal privacy and encouraging more people to take up voluntary work, but the present case shows the protocol indeed has loopholes,” the deputy judge said.

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The Sexual Conviction Record Check Scheme, introduced in 2011, allows employers to conduct background checks on new hires provided companies can prove to police their work is related to children or mentally incapacitated people.

But the scheme does not include personal tutors and NGO volunteers, and employers are not legally required to ask employees to prove they have never committed a sexual offence.

The proposed reform, however, appeared to have come too late for the convicted paedophile’s victim, who was assaulted at a community centre in Aberdeen on October 12, 2022.

The court heard the repeat offender groped the girl after making her sit in between his legs during an after-school session, in the presence of other female instructors.

A medical examination found bruises on the girl’s genitals, as a result of the defendant’s assault.

Ching pleaded guilty to indecent assault last month.

A victim impact report said the girl had experienced mood fluctuations and difficulties making friends after the incident.

While her condition did not call for immediate psychological attention, continued observation was necessary in case the girl developed social anxiety disorder in the future, the report added.

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He joined a construction training course after completing his sentence in 2018, but dropped out later due to his mental problems.

He started volunteering after his mental condition improved in 2021, and was given the chance to work with children again because of his educational background and language ability, the court was told.

A government psychologist noted the defendant still exhibited sexual interest in girls upon completion of a 12-month rehabilitation programme during his earlier time in prison.

The accused revealed that apart from the community centre, he was offered a job to teach children by at least one NGO and a district council.

The doctor said Ching was very likely to reoffend and must not be given a second chance to make contact with underage children in the future.

Deputy judge Ko said the current case had multiple aggravating factors, including the victim’s young age, Ching’s breach of trust and his “blatant” offence in front of others.

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Ching was jailed for two years after the court reduced it by a year due to his timely guilty plea.

Eric Cheung Tat-ming, a principal lecturer at the University of Hong Kong’s law school and a member of the Review of Sexual Offences Subcommittee under the Law Reform Commission, said widening the scheme to include record checks for volunteers had been recommended to the government since 2010, but authorities had not implemented the proposal accordingly.

“A case as such could have been avoided,” he said, adding the government had not voiced any opposition to the subcommittee’s proposal, which he described as a simple change to the current mechanism.

He, however, noted that a few organisations had voiced their concern about the difficulty to recruit volunteers if a record check was required.