Gambling mother held
A woman was arrested yesterday after she allegedly went gambling in Macau, leaving her eight-year-old son waiting outside the family's Yau Ma Tei flat for about 10 hours.
The 34-year-old woman, surnamed Suen, was held by immigration officers at the Macau ferry terminal in Sheung Wan at about 10am yesterday and later handed over to police.
Police said the woman, arrested on suspicion of child neglect, was being held for questioning in Yau Ma Tei police station. She has not been charged.
The Social Welfare Department said the boy, surnamed Wong, was under the care of the welfare group Po Leung Kuk after police failed to find relatives.
The case came to light after a passer-by told police that he had seen a boy in his school sports uniform sitting alone outside the entrance of a block of flats in Temple Street at about 12.30am yesterday.
The man, 25, told police that the boy had also been there when he walked past at about 9pm on Thursday.
The boy was first taken to Kwong Wah Hospital for examination.
'The boy told our officers that he had no key and he was unable to enter the flat when he returned home after school in the afternoon of Thursday,' a police officer said. 'So he sat at the entrance of the building waiting for his mother to return.'
