A Hong Kong man is due to go on trial this month after he stole a nursing coworker’s breast milk from the office fridge and swapped it for cow’s milk.
Last Monday, a 26-year-old woman employed at the Office of the Communications Authority in Wan Chai called the police to say two bottles worth of her breast milk had been stolen, Apple Daily reports. The bottles, which were kept in the office’s communal fridge, had been refilled with what appeared to be cow’s milk.
When authorities arrived on the scene to investigate the case, the woman’s coworker, a 42-year-old man surnamed Yiu, confessed to drinking and replacing the breast milk and was arrested for theft.
Yiu is currently out on bail. He will appear at the Eastern Magistrates’ Court next Friday.
The Communications Authority confirmed that Yiu was a telecommunications officer and said it would “deal with the situation in accordance with the relevant procedures”. In order to prevent similar incidents from recurring in the future, the broadcasting watchdog has now provided a lockable refrigerator in its pantry exclusively for breastfeeding mothers.
The case was first brought to attention on Saturday afternoon when the Hong Kong Breastfeeding Mothers’ Association “strongly condemned” the theft on Facebook and reminded nursing mothers to “be cautious in storing breast milk” and keep the milk in “lockable containers” if necessary.
They probably have a point, too. Last December, an IT technician was ordered by the Eastern Magistrates’ Court to perform 200 hours of community service after he admitted to stealing a coworker’s breast milk, drinking it, and sending her unsolicited dick pics because “he was stressed”.
Oh, and he texted her about how the milk was “quite sweet and very tasty” and asked if she would “let him” drink some more (as if she ever let him in the first place).
