‘Flash mob rape‘ message man guilty

Judge rules online invitation outraged public decency even though the defendant had no intention of carrying out attack
A District Court judge yesterday found a married man guilty of outraging public decency after he posted online invitations to a gang rape, even though he had no real intent to commit the attack.
In the first prosecution of its kind, Johnny Chan Sek-ming, 42, was convicted of the offence, which carries a maximum jail term of seven years. He had earlier pleaded not guilty to two charges of committing an act outraging public decency.
Judge David Lok adjourned sentencing to October 4 pending background and community service order reports.
While denying the invitations outraged public decency, Chan admitted he posted two messages on a message board - "Gossip" - atwww.she.com on August 13 and 15, inviting people to a "flash mob rape" to gang rape women.
Posted under the alias "MasterMind", the messages read: "Flash mob rape is formed by 5 to 6 boys specifically intercepting single females. Each time, one of the gang [members] will rape the female from behind and others will render assistance and act as lookouts.
"Then we will have her mouth gagged and hands tied before flashing [leaving] together. That‘ll be great! This modus operandi has its origin in South Africa, now [it has] spread to the UK. I really hope it can be organised in HK!"
The judge ruled that Chan did not intend to gang-rape a woman but said the postings were "outrageous and disgusting".
"I cannot ignore the possibility that the defendant is some kind of facetious person," the judge said, adding that a lot of internet users posted messages just to arouse "various fanciful discussions".
"[But] what [Chan] said to be a fanciful creation might materialise into a horrible crime," the judge said, noting that the internet would provide a good forum for people with common interests to group together, and there was a possibility that the invitation would attract such people.
Among the 102 responses attracted by Chan‘s invitations, the judge found many readers were "very much upset" and did not regard them as a joke.
Chan was arrested at his home on August 24 after his computer IP address was traced.
Last week barrister James Cheng Chung-chin invited the judge to consider the culture of the website, arguing its users would recognise the invitations were not serious.
But in Judge Lok‘s ruling, he said Chan‘s messages were published in a public forum and "there might be a lot of viewers who might not be familiar with the so-called culture of the website".
He also ruled that the second message Chan posted, on August 15, caused further outrage to readers of the message board.
A She.com spokeswoman said the company respected the verdict, as well as freedom of speech, but said any articles involving personal attacks, intrusion on privacy or obscenity posted on the website would be deleted.
2006年9月21日  南華早報