‘Savage abuse’: Hong Kong mother gets 22 years for starving boy, 5, to death
A Hong Kong mother who abused and starved her five-year-old son to death was sentenced to 22 years in prison, with the judge condemning a crime that exposed a “savage nature utterly devoid of the empathy inherent to motherhood”. Madam Justice Susana D’Almada Remedios on Wednesday said she had to impose the heavy sentence on the 37-year-old mother, whom she said had committed the worst form of…
A Hong Kong mother was sentenced to 22 years in prison for the barbaric murder and starvation of her five-year-old son. Madam Justice Susana D’Almada Remedios condemned the crime as an act of "savage cruelty" and "neglect" that exposed the defendant's "utterly devoid" lack of empathy towards her child. The boy, who weighed just 9.7kg and was only one meter tall at the time of his death, suffered 129 injuries and had gone without food for several days before succumbing to his injuries in September 2022.
The mother, who had previously isolated her son and lied to teachers about his absence from school, admitted to manslaughter and another charge of cruelty to a child. She was also ordered to serve an additional two years for her crimes, bringing her total sentence to 22 years. The judge noted that the boy, along with his siblings, had spent time in foster care due to the mother's drug abuse problems.
Social workers had visited the family multiple times throughout 2021 and 2022, yet were unable to intervene before the boy's tragic death.
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