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| Ekstrom is shown leaving court during the trial (Photo by Kyle Lam of HK Free Press) |
A Swedish businessman described as having acted out of character faces up to a life in jail for raping his foreign domestic helper from Nepal two years ago.
A seven-member jury unanimously voted to convict Patrik
Tobias Ekstrom, 36, of a count of rape and another of buggery without consent
against his helper, identified in court only as “X,” in a decision handed down
at the Court of First Instance on Aug. 22.
In mitigation, his lawyer, Simon So, said his client
suffered from bipolar disorder at the time of the offense, which happened on
the day Ekstrom learned that his wife had left him, and had taken their three children
with her to her home country of Japan.
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| PINDUTIN DITO |
So asked the court to allow Ekstrom to post bail pending the submission of a psychiatric and psychological report on him, but prosecutor Diane Crebbin opposed the application.
Recorder Derek Chan, who presided over the trial, rejected the application, saying the defendant was facing a “lengthy” sentence. He set down the sentencing on Nov. 11.
Under Hong Kong law, the maximum penalty for rape and non-consensual buggery is life imprisonment.
On the night of the rape, X said Ekstrom returned to
his Shek O home late on Oct.27, 2022, drunk, and forced her into his bedroom
while saying “I love you, I want you”. He threatened to kill her if she did not
give in to his demand for sex.
The next morning, X packed up her belongings and
left the house, then filed a complaint with the police. Ekstrom was arrested
that night.
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But Ekstrom said in his defence that it was the
helper who initiated sex with him as she wanted to give him “comfort’ after his
family left him.
He also claimed they had consensual sex twice in July, when he gave her money each time, and after which the helper had asked for help in repaying another debt.
The court heard that Ekstrom had advanced four months of X’s salary earlier so she could pay off a debt.
In his closing statement, the defence counsel pointed to a statement made by a forensic
pathologist who examined X after the incident, that there were no recent
identifiable injuries on X, including on her genital areas. So said this was
inconsistent with the forceful sex that the victim had claimed.
But Crebbin belied all the defense claims, saying X
would not have left her employer’s house and put her job on the line if she had consented to the rape. In her evidence, X admitted that the family had been very kind to
her,
Crebbin said Ekstrom had fabricated the alleged
sexual encounters in July to explain the rape that took place in October.
She also dismissed Ekstrom’s claim about feeling
devastated about his wife and children leaving, saying it was not believable
that he would accept the alleged advances from X under such circumstances.
In mitigation, the defense counsel said Ekstrom was diagnosed
with bipolar disorder two years ago, shortly after his family fell apart.
So said that up until then, the defendant had been a
“successful businessman”, and incurred only a drink-driving conviction about 10
years before the rape.
He told the court that after the rape, Ekstrom was
found guilty of criminally damaging property in a hospital and in a police
vehicle, with both incidents occurring after he was found walking naked in
public.
He added the defendant was also involved in a car
crash and made a false report of burglary to police when he was suffering from
the mental disorder.
He called on the court to consider Ekstrom’s mental state in coming up with an appropriate sentence.
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