A 48-year-old man was jailed for 12 months on Monday for indecently assaulting a 10-year-old girl.

Leung Shing-cho claimed that he was massaging his friend's daughter last December when he sneaked his hand under the girl's clothes and touched her breast at his home in Tin Shui Wai.

In sentencing, West Kowloon magistrate Jeffrey Sze said any sane person would consider Leung's action to be indecent and he had taken advantage of the girl's trust in him.

He said the defendant's key arguments were unreasonable and conflicting, while the victim was a reliable and honest witness who didn't waver under questioning.

The magistrate said he passed the sentence having taken into consideration the level of public anger the case attracted and the need to protect children from harm.

Leung was among three people originally jailed for life over a manslaughter case in 1999, in which the skull of the victim was stuffed inside a big Hello Kitty doll.

He won an appeal against that punishment and was instead given an 18-year prison term.