 |
| The judge said the defendant showed no remorse at all for molesting the young girl |
A visibly irked High
Court judge sent a Filipino electronics engineer to six years in jail for three
counts of indecent assault on the young daughter of his former live-in partner,
which started when the victim was just seven years old.
Joel Tiquia, 51,
sobbed loudly as he was berated repeatedly by Judge Andrew Chan, who said he
showed no remorse at all for what he did to his victim.
Judge Chan even
said at the outset that he was not inclined to give Tiquia a one-third discount
in his sentence for pleading guilty to his crimes after he told the doctor who
prepared a psychiatric report on him that the girl was to blame for what he did.
“You see, he
placed all the blame on the victim,” said the judge, who then went on to quote
Tiquia as saying that the indecent assaults happened due to “the persistent
request by the victim.”
“This defendant
has no remorse whatsoever. Why should I give him a one-third discount?” said
the angry judge.
He also said
that what Tiquia did to the girl in the worst of the three cases amounted to attempted rape, causing the girl, called X in the
proceedings, irreparable harm.
“In plain
language, X’s life has been ruined,” said the judge.
He imposed a
nine-year starting point for the sentence – just a year off the prescribed
maximum jail term of 10 years – and after some hesitation, gave the standard one-third
discount, resulting in six years’ imprisonment.
Reading off the
facts, the judge said Tiquia met the victim’s mother in September 2016, and
after dating her for a few months, moved in with her and her daughter in a flat
in Caribbean Coast, Tung Chung.
In April 2017,
while X was at home alone with him, Tiquia asked her to go to the room with
him, and proceeded to touch her breast over her clothes for about 15 minutes.
He then warned her not to tell anyone about what he did.
In May 2018,
Tiquia told the girl to go to her room, then proceeded to take off her clothes,
before telling her to lie on the bed. He then took off his own clothes, bent
down on the bed, and rubbed his penis on her naked body. The whole incident
lasted between one to one-and-a-half hours.
On Oct. 6, 2021,
when X was already 11 years old, Tiquia went into her room, touched her breast,
and proceeded to molest her. He then inserted his finger into her private
parts, hurting her in the process. This made the girl push him away. The
incident lasted about 45 minutes.
Two weeks later,
X learned about sexual abuse in her class, and she told her mother about the incidents.
The case was immediately reported to the police.
Tiquia was
originally charged with four counts of indecent assault, and he pleaded guilty
to three of them. The fourth charge, which allegedly happened in 2019, was
later left on file.
He first
appeared in court a year after the last sexual attack occurred, but admitted
his guilt only nearly two years later.
The judge said
the defendant used to work as an electronics engineer earning $45,000 a month.
He has two sons.
He also had two
previous convictions for similar cases, which he committed against a woman whom
he touched inappropriately on a bus in 2016.
Reading out the
victim impact report, the judge said the assaults had a profound impact on X,
who has been having a sense of helplessness, and a feeling that she will have
to bear the trauma for the rest of her life.
Despite this,
Tiquia has put all the blame on his victim, said the judge. “He has exhibited
no remorse. The defendant has no shame,” he said.
In the most serious
offences, in the second and third charges, Tiquia subjected X to “inhumane and
degrading treatment,” said the judge.
Being a father figure
to the girl during those times, he grossly abused the trust placed on him by
the girl and her mother, he added.
The sentencing
started with Tiquia’s lawyer telling the court that the defendant wanted to
delete the statements he made to the doctor who prepared the psychiatric
report, and to apologize for what he said.
But Judge Chan said
this could not be done, and that as far as the court was concerned, the
defendant had shown no remorse at all.
Because of this, he said he was not inclined to give any discount in the sentence.
The defence
counsel reminded the judge that Tiquia had pleaded guilty to the offences at
the magistrate’s level, sparing the victim of the ordeal of testifying in
court. He also said that if a defendant agreed to the facts of the case then it
showed he was remorseful.
Not satisfied
with this, Judge Chan turned to the prosecutor to ask for his opinion. In response, the prosecutor read out from a written
judgment which indicated that remorse is subsumed in the defendant’s guilty
plea.
Tiquia had been
out on bail until last month, when the judge ordered him put behind bars pending
the submission of psychiatric and psychological reports on him.
At the time, his
lawyer said Tiquia’s eldest son was in court to support him, while his wife and
younger son, as well as some colleagues, submitted letters asking the court for
a lenient sentence.
The lawyer
suggested a starting point for the sentence of between four and five years.
However, Section 122 (1) of Crimes Ordinance of Hong Kong provides a maximum
sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment for a crime of indecent assault.
Under the same
law, a person under the age of 16 is considered incapable of giving consent to
such an act.
.jpg)
.jpg)
