Suspended jail sentence for abandoned boy's mom

A 37-year-old mainland mother was sentenced to four months in jail, but suspended for three years, by the Kowloon City Magistrates' Court for abandoning her 12-year-old son at Kwong Wah Hospital in July.

The defendant, who claims to be a yoga teacher, known in court as CJJ, pleaded guilty to one count of ill treatment or neglect of a child before principal magistrate Don So Man-lung.

In sentencing, So said parents have the responsibility to take care of their children.

"Even though Hong Kong has a complete welfare and education system, it's parents' responsibility to take care of their children," he said.

"It is very wrong to expect the Hong Kong government to help you take care of your son and educate him."

So also said the aim of the charge was to protect children so a jail sentence should be handed down. But he suspended the four-month jail term for three years as the mother has to take care of her two sons - the 12-year-old boy and his nine-year-old brother.

An immediate imprisonment sentence would have a huge negative impact on the two children, he added.

The court has heard that the mother and the boy came to Hong Kong on July 17 and the boy was left at Kwong Wah Hospital in Yau Ma Tei alone on July 21 without any food, money or mobile phone.

The mother told the police that she gave birth to the boy in Hong Kong so that he could study in the SAR.

She later divorced the boy's father and raised the two sons by herself.

The mother got in touch with a man, Steven, in March, who said he could arrange for the boy to be admitted to a Hong Kong school, and she paid him 17,000 yuan (HK$18,500).

Steven told the mother and the son that they would have to "put up a show" for the boy to be sent to charity Po Leung Kuk. The mother took the boy to Hong Kong on July 17 and met Steven.

She then told the boy that they would go to a hospital and asked him to tell the police his mother was missing so that he could be sent to a Po Leung Kuk home.

She promised the boy that she would visit him every day by applying for a tourist visa and Steven would also take care of him.

On July 21, the boy was sent to Kwong Wah Hospital for diarrhea. The mother and Steven left the hospital while they were waiting to see the doctor.

The mother had prepared a bag for the boy, containing his clothes, mobile phone and an Octopus card. But Steven said she should not give it to the boy so that the abandonment would "look real."

The mother said Steven told her the following day that the case had caught public attention and asked her to delete their chatting history. She then found Steven had blocked her on WeChat.

The defense said the boy returned to his home in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, last month and was being taken care of by his grandmother.

The mother was remorseful for her behavior and appealed to the court not to hand down a jail sentence so that she could return home to look after her sons.

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com