Police have arrested on suspicion of child abuse the parents of a primary school student who was made to endure cold showers and not given adequate clothing for winter weather, according to reports.
A social worker at Po Yan Oblate Primary School in Kowloon City found the 11-year-old surnamed Wu was shivering non-stop yesterday as the mercury dropped to 7 degrees celsius, Apple Daily reported.
The student was wearing just a dress and cardigan and no jacket, and teachers noticed that her school uniform was also dirty.
The newspaper reported that Wu lived with her parents and younger sister in a sub-divided flat, and that she had also been made to endure cold showers each morning because she was made to shower last, at which time the house’s electric water heater ran out of hot water.
At 10am yesterday, the school contacted police, who arrested the girl’s parents, 35-year-old father Wu and 40-year-old mother Chin, for suspected child abuse, The Standard reported.
The girl did not appear to have any external injuries but was taken Queen Elizabeth Hospital for a check-up.
According to The Standard, the school began noticing the girl’s lack of adequate clothing last week as temperatures dropped to single digits.
Apple Daily reported the girl suffered from a cleft lip, for which she had undergone surgery as a young child.
She reportedly told teachers that her parents did not love her as much as her sister because of the cleft lip.
Investigators are looking into the case, and added the girl had been monitored by a social worker since 2016, when she was given back to the family from a foster home.
