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	30 Months for Ex-Pastor Who Molested Boys By Nickkita Lau The Standard October 27, 2007 http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=55800&sid=16001045&con_type=1 A former assistant pastor of a Kowloon church has been jailed for 30 months for molesting three teenage boys in the past two decades. Amos Fung Chun-yip, 41, of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, pleaded guilty to five counts of indecent assault between 1986 and 2005. District Court deputy judge David Dufton on Thursday said Fung had violated the trust of parents who considered the church a safe place for their children as well as the credibility of pastors and that a deterrent sentence was needed. After taking into consideration that Fung had sought psychological help before his arrest and the victims had not suffered serious pyschiatric damage, nor had violence been used, Dufton reduced the sentence to 30 months. Defense counsel John Dunn said Fung was sexually abused when he was a youngster. "The defendant had been tormented by his sexual ambiguity," Dunn said, adding his client had been "fighting temptation" through psychiatric treatment and was "genuinely remorseful." "[Fung] is not a predator going around preying on young men. He believes his sexual orientation is sinful and he has been struggling for years." He said none of the victims had been traumatized, and the touching and molestation involved were minimal. Fung became a Christian and began attending the church in 1980 when he was 13. He had been actively involved in the Boys' Brigade. He became an assistant pastor in July 2002 after completing a bachelor's degree course in theology. Fung had been in charge of the church's youth activities since his employment, and it was only in 2005 that the molestations were revealed. A senior pastor conducted a counseling session with Fung in September that year and noticed Fung appeared to be depressed. During the session, Fung confessed he had "sinned by touching a church member's private parts." He resigned a month after the confession. About a year later, the senior pastor was told by two teenage boys they had been molested by Fung. He was arrested on October 12 at his home in Sha Tin a day after a complaint was made. The first victim was 11 when he first met Fung in 1984, and was molested on three occasions between 1986 and 1988. The second and third victims - 17 and 16 - were molested when they were invited to play video games and stayed overnight at Fung's home in 2005. Fung is the second priest to be jailed in the past four years for sexually abusing teenagers. In 2003, former priest Michael Lau was sentenced to 4 years for abusing an altar boy in 1991 and 1992.
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