Jury Deadlocked in Gavin Gao’s Sexual Assault Case; Judge Orders Retrial in February 2020
Chinese actor Gavin Gao (also known as Gao Yunxiang 高云翔) and director Wang Jing (王晶) were arrested for sexual assault in March 2018 while filming in Sydney, Australia. The pair were charged for sexually assaulting a 37-year-old Chinese-Australian woman inside a hotel room. After 26 days of trial, the jury failed to reach an unanimous verdict. Today, the judge ordered the jury to be dissolved and the case will be retried on February 24, 2020.
Although the victim did not appear in court during the trial, she testified through video and stated that she was lured to the hotel room, where she was sexually assaulted. While the victim was visibly distraught after that night, it was her husband who insisted on calling the police.
The defense tried to prove that consensual sexual activity had occurred between the parties, citing that the victim was friendly to Gavin on set and was seen kissing Wang Jing at a karaoke bar on the night of the alleged assault. The victim had also refused a medical exam in her genital area, claiming there was no actual intercourse, but had surprisingly asked her doctor for a morning-after pill.
Gavin has been charged with seven counts and Wong Jing has been charged with eleven counts, which includes five counts of aggravated sexual assault in company which has a maximum sentence of lifetime imprisonment.
After the judge ordered a retrial of the case in February 2020, he also issued a restraining order on the media that specific details regarding the retrial cannot be disclosed to the public. Wang Jing’s lawyer applied for bail on behalf of his client.
It has been 20 months since sexual assault charges were filed against Gavin, and his life has been turned upside down. The 37-year-old actor is also being sued for 60 million yuan by the producer of Legend of Ba Qing <赢天下> for causing delays to the broadcast. In May, Gavin and actress Michelle Dong (董璇) got divorced. With his financial assets currently frozen, it is reported that Michelle has been paying the legal fees for Gavin’s trial, which is estimated to have already surpassed $10 million HKD to-date.
This article is written by Kiki for JayneStars.com.
Gavin Gao’s Sexual Assault Case Update: Victim Took Morning-After Pill
We don’t want to hear about this GAO and too sad to hear about the other GAO. Sighhhhh……
@wm2017
Precisely. Well said.