Mother charged over abandoning 12-year-old son at Hong Kong public hospital
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong police have charged a mainland Chinese mother with ill-treating or neglecting a child after her 12-year-old son was found abandoned at a local hospital around two weeks ago.
The city’s police pressed charges against a 37-year-old woman surnamed Chen on Sunday, after she was arrested on suspicion of ill-treatment or neglect of her son, who was seen wandering the emergency unit of Kwong Wah Hospital on July 21. Chen was taken to the Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts on Monday.
The maximum penalty for ill-treatment or neglect of a child is 10 years in prison.
According to the police, Chen, who holds a two-way exit permit, was arrested on Saturday night in the Yau Ma Tei district after entering Hong Kong earlier that evening. Police first appealed to the public for information on the family members of the abandoned child on July 22 and managed to get in touch with Chen later that day.
The boy had no visible injuries when he was discovered in the hospital and was later sent to the Tuen Mun Children and Juvenile Home. Chief Executive John Lee said last Monday that the Hong Kong authorities would not tolerate child abandonment and urged the boy’s parents to return to the city and pick him up.
According to local media reports citing sources, the Chen brought her son to Hong Kong and left him in the city in order to provide him with a “decent education.” She reportedly instructed her son to tell nurses that he had been “abandoned by his mother” after telling the hospital that the boy was experiencing diarrhoea and coughing.
Local media reported that Chen returned to mainland China afterwards, and told the Hong Kong police that she was willing to come back to the city, but there were issues with her entry permit which would take 10 days to process.
Police applied to the Juvenile Court for a Care or Protection Order for the boy concerned on July 22, the Social Welfare Department said last Monday.
The order allows the court to appoint the director of social welfare as the legal guardian of the child in question, or ensure that they receive care from specific people or institutions, and can be applied for by police officers or social workers who consider a child in need of protection. The court can also order parents or guardians to pledge to provide proper care to the child concerned, under the supervision of a court appointee.
The boy’s case was adjourned to August 18, pending a social worker’s report on the his condition. He required to remain in the children and juvenile home until the court reached a decision on his welfare plan, the government said, adding he was in good health and stable emotional condition.
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