Jail inevitable for old crime

A former school principal, who had pleaded guilty in Kwun Tong Magistrates' Court to a charge of indecent assault of a 10-year-old girl 26 years ago was told he should expect a custodial sentence.

Walter Yau Woon-man, 53, was indicted after his victim, 36, contacted police recently, after learning he had become the principal of TWGHs Kwan Fong Kai Chi School, a special education school for autistic children. She said she was molested by Yau, then a tutor, when he gave private lessons to her. She feared he might harm more children. Yau entered guilty pleas to three counts of indecent assault.

Principal Magistrate Ernest Lin adjourned the sentencing to Nov 21, pending the victim impact report. He refused Yau's application for bail, saying he will receive a jail term longer than three months.

The defense counsel pleaded for a sentence shorter than three years, pointing to the laws at the time of the offense.

Jerome Lau released on bail

Jerome Lau Ting-sing, a gay businessman who was serving a 17-month jail term for criminally intimidating and indecently assaulting male models he tricked into posing nude, was granted bail in the High Court on Thursday.

The court released the 62-year-old on a HK$50,000 bail, pending the appeal.

Fuel leak on Dragonair

A fuel leak was detected on board a Dragonair aircraft at Chek Lap Kok on Thursday morning. Some 150 passengers were affected.

The Airport Authority said the fuel leak was detected by Dragonair staff around 9 am, before the passengers boarded the Kaoshiung-bound flight No KA432. The airline made arrangement for the passengers to transfer to another flight. The leak was stopped within minutes of discovery. Firemen were called to help deal with the situation. Dragonair is investigating the cause.

Job prospects improve

A survey, by a human resources firm, has revealed that 40 percent of 400 employers interviewed intend to hire new staff in the next three months. The figure was two percent above the corresponding period of last year. The survey showed that employers in the city are holding to a positive attitude, despite the clouded global economic situation. The banking and finance sector had the gloomiest outlook, with more employers intending to cut staff than in any other sector. The picture emerges from uncertainty of the external financial market. The survey was conducted in August.

HKUST 1st in melting check

A long-term debate on alleged defects generated before melting has been squashed when the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) successfully achieved the first direct observation of homogeneous crystal melting at single-particle level.

A research team led by Prof Yilong Han at the Department of Physics at HKUST made the observation and also measured the superheat limit of colloidal crystals for the first time. His team members included Ziren Wang, Feng Wang Yi Peng and Zhongyu Zheng.

All of these discoveries have been published in the latest issue of Science, one of the world's most prestigious scientific journals.

China Daily

(HK Edition 10/12/2012 page1)