By Brian Wong

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A Hong Kong salesman has been jailed for two years and three months for drugging three female colleagues in his home, with the sentencing judge slamming him for inflicting serious psychological damage on his victims.
The District Court on Tuesday sentenced 44-year-old Jamie Poon Tik-wai on three counts of administering a poison with intent to injure the three women between December 2013 and May 2014.
The court heard the trio were Poon’s colleagues at the local branch of Nu Skin, a US-based cosmetics firm known for its direct-selling strategy.
They told the trial earlier this year that they had gone to the defendant’s flat at Park View Court in Kowloon Tong on separate occasions to take a rest, only to pass out after consuming drinks they believed were doctored with a sedative.
One of the victims said she was shocked to find herself lying on a bed, wet and half naked, after losing consciousness in the bathroom the previous night.
But Poon, who is married with a daughter, suggested the woman had passed out due to exhaustion, while blaming her for locking the door and making it difficult to “rescue” her.
A fourth woman, whose complaint was not the subject matter of the three counts, testified to losing consciousness twice at a Shenzhen hotel while on business trips in mainland China with Poon in 2015.
The salesman later confessed that he had spent two hours inside the colleague’s bedroom during a trip in June that year.
He admitted to changing her clothing, taking pictures and having a “chat” with the unconscious victim.
A covert audio recording made in 2015 captured a male voice, believed to be the defendant, claiming someone had mistakenly drunk his cup of water infused with a sleeping drug.
That person said he could not control himself and had to satisfy his fetish for certain garments, while insisting he had not done anything sexual in nature.
The victims filed a police report in 2019 after suspecting that Poon might have targeted multiple women.
Judge Ernest Michael Lin Kam-hung convicted the salesman last month of the three counts and accepted the four witnesses’ court testimonies as a credible account of the incidents.
Lin rejected the defendant’s assertion that he had made up his confession after “nonchalantly” admitting wrongdoing.
A presentencing report detected no psychiatric issues in Poon and suggested his risk of reoffending was low.
Passing sentence on Tuesday, Lin slammed the accused for abusing his higher position in the company and faith placed in him by his colleagues.
“I believe the present case is close to one of inflicting bodily harm,” he said. “While the victims felt unwell momentarily, the psychological damage done to them was more serious.”
A deterrent sentence was required to reflect the defendant’s breach of trust, premeditation and persistence in committing the crimes, the judge added.
Administering a poison with intent to injure is punishable by up to three years in prison.