Hong Kong mum starved, abused 5-year-old son; he weighed less than 10kg when he died

A five-year-old boy weighed only 9.7kg at the time of his death in 2022 after he was starved to death by his mother in a flat in a case of child abuse in Hong Kong.

According to local media outlet HK01, the mother, 38, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and cruelty to a child on Monday (June 22).

The mother, known only as LST, is accused of neglecting and physically abusing Z, who had developmental delays. 

HK01 reported that the mother had slapped her son, hitting him with a rattan cane, and binding both his limbs.

She also allegedly kept Z in his bedroom for extended periods of time, forcing him to eat and urinate there.

The boy ultimately died from the abuse, with experts estimating that he may have gone without food for two to three months before his death.

He had 129 injuries on his body according to the autopsy report.

Mother had 2 other children

The court heard that the mother had two other children, identified as X and Y, who were both sent to a childcare centre after she was deemed unfit to care for them.

In around 2020-2021, she brought the children back to live with her and her Vietnamese boyfriend subsequently moved out.

But Z hardly went to kindergarten, the court heard.

The mother confessed that she would sometimes hit Z's hands and buttocks with a rattan cane or a clothes hanger when he was being disobedient.

She also admitted to noticing that Z was looking malnourished, but still did not take him to a doctor.

Police conducted a video interview with older daughter X, who said that her mother would sometimes throw Z on the bed and warn him that he would be beaten if he left the bed.

As such, Z barely left the bedroom. Eating and using the toilet were all done in the room, X told the police.

South China Morning Post reported that an autopsy report showed that Z was one metre tall and weighed 9.7kg at the time of his death.

Meanwhile, court records showed that the boy weighed 14.6kg and was 90cm tall in early 2020. 

A paediatrician said that the boy's growth had "slowed down during the last 1,001 days before his death".

The report also concluded that the cause of death was "severe protein-energy malnutrition”.

Judge questions how case went undetected

Justice Susana D'Almada Remedios said the case was "extremely serious", indicating that such level of abuse was "at the top end" of the scale for such a crime, South China Morning Post reported.

She also ordered the prosecution to investigate why Z was returned to his mother's care between 2020 and 2021, especially since the boy had been under foster care since he was two months old.

The judge also questioned how a social worker, who visited the family three months before Z died, could have overlooked the victim's poor condition.

"I don't believe that (the social worker) could not visibly see any abnormality,” she said. 

"This child did not suffer malnutrition in three months. It took over 1,000 days."

The mother will return to court for sentencing on July 24, reports said.

[[nid:731419]]

[email protected]