A young mother who confessed to abandoning her newborn son in order to play mahjong was sentenced to 12 months’ probation today.
The 23-year-old woman, surnamed Chan, pleaded guilty to one count of child neglect at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court.
Chan left the 18-day-old boy — her only child — alone at her mother and stepfather’s home in Cheung Sha Wan at around noon on Dec. 5, 2016 in order to “de-stress” at the mahjong parlour.
She apparently failed to inform either her mother or stepfather that the child was at their home and proceeded to spend the afternoon at the mahjong hall. While Chan’s stepfather returned home at around 3:30pm, he didn’t know his grandson was in the house and took a nap.
HK01 reports that Chan, who lost HKD4,500 playing mahjong, called her former employer to beg for a loan and explained what she had done. Chan’s employer refused to lend her the money and called social services. Chan then turned to her mother, who rushed home to collect the money and found the child at around 6pm.
Meanwhile, the social services worker who’d been notified by Chan’s ex-employer called the police, who arrested the young mother at the mahjong parlour at around 7pm.
During sentencing today, the magistrate said the case was serious and Chan had been “reckless”, but noted that she spent three weeks remanded in police custody, and her boyfriend, mother, and friend wrote letters testifying to her good character. Based on Chan’s probation report and character evidence, the magistrate sentenced the 23-year-old to 12 months’ probation.
