Hong Kong taxi driver handed 200 hours of community service for ...

A Hong Kong taxi driver has been sentenced to 200 hours of community service for molesting a female tourist earlier this year, in a case which has cast a shadow over a sector that authorities have targeted for its reputation of poor service.

Defendant Lui Kwan-ying was spared jail at Kowloon City Court on Wednesday at the recommendation of a probation officer, who found the 66-year-old showed remorse for the offence in what his lawyer described as a positive pre-sentence assessment report.

Acting principal magistrate David Ko Wai-hung said he “reluctantly” took the officer’s advice, noting the nature and duration of the touching.

But he stressed the offence remained serious and that drivers should never make physical contact with passengers.

Lui, who is married and has two adult children, pleaded guilty last month to a count of indecent assault for touching a Malaysian tourist’s thighs after she boarded his taxi in the early hours of May 30 this year.

The court heard the driver with nearly two decades’ experience took advantage of the inebriated state of the 26-year-old woman who earlier spent the night at Knutsford Terrace, a pedestrian strip in Tsim Sha Tsui lined with restaurants and bars.