A mother has pleaded guilty to ill-treatment of her baby boy after he was found to have methamphetamine and ketamine in his bloodstream when he died.
According to prosecutors, 32-year-old Candy Leung found 49-day-old Wong Lok-man dead on May 23 last year after she left him alone at her Shek Lei Estate flat for three hours to go shopping with her mother and Wong’s one-year-old brother.
The exact cause of death is unknown, but a postmortem found traces of the two drugs in the boy’s bloodstream and urine.
A District Court heard on Monday that, according to a forensic pathologist, the drugs could have got into Wong’s bloodstream through breastfeeding and second-hand inhalation.
Leung initially claimed she found the baby after stepping out of the shower, but CCTV shows she left the house for at least three hours.
Prosecutor Lam Shun-chiu claims she stopped at a park to chat about her allegedly abusive boyfriend, the father of Wong and his brother, on her way out.
According to the SCMP, Leung was married at 16 and has another 16-year-old son with her now divorced husband.
Leung also pleaded guilty to one count of possessing a dangerous drug.
Sentencing has been adjourned into March 10.
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