Seven years on, mother of Yu Man-hon refuses to give up
Sitting in her flat surrounded by mementoes of her missing autistic son, Yu Lai Wai-ling is sure of one thing: she will not seek to have Yu Man-hon declared dead.
She expresses her determination even though Man-hon will have been missing for seven years tomorrow - after which time a person can be declared legally dead - and despite a heartbreaking report that he was beaten to death by mainland officers after being rounded up with other mentally handicapped people.
'I will never give up looking for my son. No parent would want to declare their child dead. I will continue to try to locate him,' the 54-year-old said.
'Also, I am worried that if my son is declared dead, the Hong Kong government and the mainland authorities will not help me look for him any more. I will not do that no matter how long my son has been missing.'
Man-hon, with a mental age of two, was 15 on August 24, 2000, when he ran away from his mother and leapt on a train in Yau Ma Tei MTR station. He somehow crossed the border and was turned away by Hong Kong immigration officials at Lo Wu when Shenzhen officials tried to return him.