A mother who left her four-year-old son alone at home to go gambling in Macau was put on 12 months' probation yesterday.
Cheung Kwai-mui, a 40-year-old housewife, went to Macau when her four-year-old son was asleep at home on the Shek Yam Estate, Kwai Tsing, last month. The boy called police when he woke up the next morning and found his mother was absent.
Cheung, who was divorced last year and remarried, turned herself in when she came back to Hong Kong that night.
She pleaded guilty to a charge of mistreating or neglecting her child earlier this month. It was not the first time Cheung had left her son alone at home. She received a binding-over order last time, and the recent incident violated the conditions of that order.
Acting Principal Magistrate Timothy Casewell, sitting in Tsuen Wan Court, said the court would not pursue the case further.
The boy was taken to Princess Margaret Hospital for a check-up after the incident and was found to be in good health.