LCQ18: Cases involving sexual offences
**************************************
Question:
Given the Government's indication that it plans to propose legislative amendments on sexual offences within this year, there are views that society needs a more accurate understanding of the current situation regarding sexual offences in Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the numbers of cases of suspected rape and indecent assault received by the Police in each of the past five years, with a breakdown by gender of the victims; as well as the respective numbers of persons arrested, prosecuted and convicted in those cases;
(2) of the number of cases involving sexual offences against children under 18 (including rape, indecent assault, incest, and sexual intercourse with a girl under 13 or 16) in each of the past five years, as well as the respective numbers of persons arrested, prosecuted and convicted in those cases;
(3) of the numbers and types of perpetrators (e.g. parent, relative, friend, caregiver, teacher, school staff, tutor, coach, other relationship, and unrelated or unidentified person) involved in the cases referred to in (2);
(4) of the numbers of cases of suspected offences of "sexual intercourse with a mentally incapacitated person" and "indecent assault on a mentally incapacitated person" under the Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200) in the past five years, as well as the respective numbers of persons arrested, prosecuted and convicted in those cases;
(5) of the total number of cases involving the four new offences (i.e. voyeurism, unlawful recording or observation of intimate parts, publication of images originating from voyeurism or unlawful recording of intimate parts, as well as publication or threatened publication of intimate images without consent) received by the Police since the Crimes (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 (the Amendment Ordinance) came into effect in October 2021, as well as the respective numbers of persons arrested, prosecuted and convicted in those cases, with a breakdown by the four offences concerned; and
(6) of (i) the number of cases in which the Police's Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau has assisted to remove, delete or destroy intimate images published without consent, as well as the number of relevant links it has dealt with, and the number of network platforms or operators involved in those cases; and (ii) the number of cases in which the Police have applied to the court under section 159AAL of the Crimes Ordinance for a disposal order ordering a person to take reasonable steps to remove, delete or destroy the image concerned within a specified period, as well as the number of such applications approved, in each year since the implementation of the Amendment Ordinance?
Reply:
President,
The offences mentioned by the Member fall within the scope of the existing legislation and the statistics set out in this reply reflect the situation under the existing legislative framework. The Government understands the concern of society over the legislation on sexual offences and is actively studying the implementation of the recommendations put forward in the two reports published by the Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong, namely the Review of Substantive Sexual Offences in 2019 and Sentencing and Related Matters in the Review of Sexual Offences in 2022, with a view to conducting an overall review and improving the legislation on sexual offences in Hong Kong. The legislative exercise, which aims at strengthening legal protection for victims (especially children), is targeted for completion within the current term of Government.
The reply to various parts of the question is as follows:
(1) Relevant statistics on cases of rape and indecent assault in the past five years are set out in Table 1 and Table 2.
Table 1: Statistics on cases of rape
| Year | Number of cases | Number of victims | Number of persons arrested | Number of persons prosecuted | Number of persons convicted | ||
| Male | Female | Total | |||||
| 2021 | 79 | 0 | 79 | 79 | 81 | 32 | 14 |
| 2022 | 53 | 0 | 53 | 53 | 56 | 34 | 11 |
| 2023 | 67 | 0 | 67 | 67 | 70 | 31 | 14 |
| 2024 | 77 | 0 | 77 | 77 | 76 | 41 | 17 |
| 2025 | 69 | 0 | 69 | 69 | 68 | 43 | 16 |
Table 2: Statistics on cases of indecent assault
| Year | Number of cases | Number of victims | Number of persons arrested | Number of persons prosecuted | Number of persons convicted | ||
| Male | Female | Total | |||||
| 2021 | 1018 | 68 | 950 | 1018 | 747 | 304 | 202 |
| 2022 | 953 | 68 | 885 | 953 | 705 | 299 | 197 |
| 2023 | 1162 | 73 | 1089 | 1162 | 827 | 355 | 243 |
| 2024 | 1185 | 88 | 1097 | 1185 | 832 | 390 | 247 |
| 2025 | 1137 | 100 | 1037 | 1137 | 857 | 327 | 211 |
(2) and (3) As for sexual offences against children, a child is defined under the Criminal Procedure Ordinance as a person who is under 17 years of age. Statistics on cases of sexual offences against children received by the Police in the past five years are set out in Table 3.
The Police do not maintain statistics on the relationship between persons involved in cases of sexual offences against children.
Table 3: Statistics on cases of sexual offences against children
| Year | |||||
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
| Cases of sexual offences against children | |||||
| Number of cases | 599 | 578 | 696 | 663 | 797 |
| Number of persons arrested | 429 | 423 | 504 | 439 | 567 |
| The numbers of persons prosecuted and convicted in cases with statistical breakdown are as follows*: | |||||
| Intercourse with a girl under 13 | |||||
| Prosecution | 2 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 4 |
| Conviction | 1 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 3 |
| Intercourse with a girl under 16 | |||||
| Prosecution | 45 | 36 | 64 | 42 | 46 |
| Conviction | 37 | 31 | 56 | 32 | 33 |
(4) Statistics on cases of sexual intercourse with mentally incapacitated persons (MIPs) and indecent assault involving MIPs received by the Police in the past five years are set out in Table 4 and Table 5.
Table 4: Statistics on cases of sexual intercourse with MIPs
| Year | Number of cases | Number of persons arrested | Number of persons prosecuted | Number of persons convicted |
| 2021 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 16 | 10 | 4 | 0 |
| 2023 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 0 |
| 2024 | 15 | 14 | 2 | 0 |
| 2025 | 14 | 12 | 6 | 5 |
Table 5: Statistics on cases of indecent assault involving MIPs
| Year | Number of cases | Number of persons arrested | Number of persons prosecuted | Number of persons convicted |
| 2021 | 21 | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 21 | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 16 | 14 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 25 | 19 | 2 | 0 |
| 2025 | 20 | 19 | 0 | 0 |
(5) and (6) Since voyeurism-related offences under the Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200) came into effect in October 2021, the relevant statistics up to the end of 2025 are tabulated at Table 6.
The Police have also been conducting online patrols proactively to combat various offences (including voyeurism-related offences). Where actual circumstances require, the Police will request online platforms, operators, etc, to remove contents such as images and posts. The Police do not maintain a statistical breakdown on removal of intimate images.
Furthermore, in handling cases involving intimate images, most of the service providers will comply with the Police's removal requests. So far, there have been no relevant cases involving applications for disposal orders.
Table 6: Statistics on voyeurism-related offences
| Year | Number of cases | Number of persons arrested | Number of persons prosecuted | Number of persons convicted |
| Voyeurism | ||||
| 2021 (October to December) |
31 | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 99 | 73 | 30 | 29 |
| 2023 | 139 | 81 | 58 | 53 |
| 2024 | 172 | 107 | 59 | 50 |
| 2025 | 158 | 112 | 49 | 40 |
| Unlawful recording or observation of intimate parts | ||||
| 2021 (October to December) |
86 | 65 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 435 | 345 | 178 | 171 |
| 2023 | 358 | 257 | 207 | 195 |
| 2024 | 350 | 252 | 193 | 177 |
| 2025 | 341 | 282 | 161 | 153 |
| Publication of images originating from commission of offence under section 159AAB(1) or 159AAC(1) of the Crimes Ordinance | ||||
| 2021 (October to December) |
2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| 2024 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Publication or threatened publication of intimate images without consent | ||||
| 2021 (October to December) |
15 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 94 | 46 | 2 | 2 |
| 2023 | 134 | 61 | 8 | 7 |
| 2024 | 146 | 71 | 17 | 14 |
| 2025 | 116 | 61 | 14 | 6 |
Ends/Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Issued at HKT 11:20
Issued at HKT 11:20
NNNN