A Filipino tourist, who was charged with three counts of indecent assault against a 13-year-old boy on an airline flight, was acquitted at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
Magistrate Edward Wong said the prosecution did not have sufficient evidence to show Rodolfo Domingo, an executive of a Filipino software company, was guilty of the allegations against the Hong Kong boy, identified as X in the trial, sunwebhk.com reported.
The magistrate dropped all three charges against Domingo. The court had earlier heard that Domingo and the boy were seated next to each other on an Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Hong Kong on December 8-9 last year.
The boy claimed he was asleep but was awakened three times when the defendant put his hand on his knee, and then on to his private parts. On the third occasion, the boy complained to his parents who were seated nearby, and Domingo was arrested on arrival at Hong Kong International Airport.
Since his arrest, Domingo had been out on bail but was not allowed to leave Hong Kong.