An associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) has been acquitted of indecently assaulting a woman who reported him upon discovering he was married, after a court found the pair had been mutually attracted and that the man may have wrongly believed she had consented to being touched.
Magistrate Raymond Wong Kwok-fai acquitted Peng Peng, 38, at Sha Tin Court on Monday, following hearings that began in July.
Peng had pleaded not guilty to two counts stemming from alleged incidents on May 21, 2025, when he and the complainant – a fellow scholar from mainland China – visited CUHK’s art museum before dining in Ma On Shan.
The court earlier heard that the two met in April after a conference and went hiking on CUHK’s campus, but the complainant said Peng never mentioned he was a married man or a father.
Peng later emailed her, calling the hike an “unforgettable adventure on the campus”.
She replied she was “very happy” and looked forward to meeting again in summer. Peng responded: “The views at CUHK are beautiful, but nothing compares to the sight of you beside me.”
They later moved their conversations to WeChat. On May 20, the woman invited Peng to the campus but he said he was busy and would see her the next day. She replied: “Nothing, talk to you when we meet.” When Peng asked, “why so mysterious?”, she sent a “doll” emoji and wrote, “keep smiling”.
During their museum visit, the court heard, their conversation included sexual innuendo – remarks about her outfit and the colour of her toenails – and Peng patted her on the back.
After their dinner on May 21, the complainant spoke with a friend that night and learned of Peng’s marital status. The following day, she went to CUHK to lodge a complaint before reporting the matter to police.
Delivering his verdict, Wong said that while the victim complained to police that Peng had touched her waist and hip when they were crossing the road, she only showed that her waist was touched during a demonstration in the court.
He also noted that she did not raise this incident to police when she complained about the second one in the restaurant, adding that both parties’ bodies were moving while crossing the road.
He ruled that the prosecution could not prove beyond reasonable doubt that Peng had indecently assaulted the complainant.
On the second charge, Wong said security camera footage of the restaurant did show that Peng put his hand on the complainant’s waist for 10 seconds.
But he concluded that they were “mutually attracted”, judging from their previous email and WeChat exchanges, and the fact that the woman stayed behind for more than two hours and continued to chat cheerfully with Peng after the alleged assault occurred. He also said the woman had no special response after being touched.
The magistrate said he could not rule out the possibility that the defendant had a wrongful belief that the complainant consented to him touching her.
However, the magistrate said Peng brought suspicion on himself as he actually touched the complainant, thus refusing his application for costs on the second charge. However, his application for costs for the first charge was granted. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
