A 16-year-old girl was molested more than 10 times in just under a month by her guardian uncle, District Court heard Wednesday.

The victim was living with 45-year-old Yu Kwong-yiu, her aunt and a grandfather in a Tuen Mun flat at the time. Yu was arrested on October 15 and pleaded not guilty to five counts of indecent assault.

In a police interview tape played before Justice Peter Longley, the victim alleged she was regularly awakened by her uncle who fondled and molested her under the guise of giving her wake-up calls.

In her interview, the victim said the alleged early morning assaults which started in mid-August 2009 had caused recurrent nightmares and had led her to lock her door. She said she was scolded for locking the door by her aunt, Yu's wife, since the girl shared the room with her grandfather.

Yu also allegedly left notes instructing her not to lock doors and promising "gifts".

"After each molestation, (Yu) would give me money, sometimes HK$20, sometimes HK$30. It was insulting as if he thought I was a prostitute. I deposited the money into a McDonald's charity box," she said.

She said she tried to alert her aunt to the assaults near the end of August but Yu's wife allegedly did not believe her and later said any contact was likely accidental.

The victim told police she was afraid of her aunt's reaction if she tried to fight back or scream during the alleged attacks.

The victim also said she confided in her elder sister and a friend at a church. Because she was afraid of betraying her aunt who had taken her in, the victim's allegations did not resurface until she told a classmate who convinced her to report the matter to a school social worker on October 13 last year.

Cross-examining the victim via video-link, Yu's counsel Luke McGuinniety suggested none of the alleged indecent assaults occurred and that the wake-up calls were nothing more than wake-up calls.

He also said the money Yu left her was really pocket money.

He painted the victim as a troubled youth who developed an antagonistic relationship with her uncle who had "come to her rescue" two years earlier.

McGuinniety said the victim had already been living with various relatives and finally ended up in institutional care. Her mother deserted her family when the girl was only a child and her father was unable to care for her and her three other siblings, according to court documents.

Brought in by Yu and his wife in 2008 after stints with foster families and other relatives, the victim was subjected to strict rules set up by the couple and the victim's probation officer, including a 7 pm curfew, chores, limited phone and computer usage along with a ban on associating with old friends with whom she had allegedly committed prior offenses.

"By the summer of 2009, you were breaking all the rules all the time," McGuinniety said.

"You thought up this plan of accusing him of indecent assaults to hurt (Yu) and get out of living (with him)," he said.

The trial continues today.

(HK Edition 04/08/2010 page1)