A Hong Kong man today pled guilty to abandoning his deaf-mute and mentally disabled son in Singapore in 2014.
Struggling financially, construction worker Chan Chai-wai believed his son, who was 11 years old at the time, would be better cared for in the city state, his lawyer told the hearing today at Kwun Tong Magistrates Court, according to the SCMP.
The 48-year-old, who was formally charged last week, admitted one count of willfully abandoning a child and will be sentenced on Dec. 12.
The court heard that a day after picking his son up from a special needs school in Aberdeen, Chan flew with the boy— identified only as “X” — to Singapore on July 21, 2014.
Police posted a photo of “X” on Facebook on July 23 after they found him wandering by himself on Singapore’s Marina Promenade. Chan left the city on that day and was arrested two days later by Hong Kong police, the SCMP reported.
The “complex matter” took three years to bring to court as Hong Kong police required help from their Singaporean counterparts and legal questions arose as to where Chan should be tried.
In his defense, Chan’s lawyer said his client was under financial pressure and believed his child would be provided for by Singapore’s welfare system.
Magistrate Don So Man-lung said that a jail term was likely.
Reader Interactions