Court fines mother for leaving bruised daughter in mall
A housewife was fined HK$500 yesterday for leaving her four-year-old daughter, bruised from traditional Chinese health treatments, alone in a shopping mall.
Kwun Tong Court Magistrate Abu Bakar bin Wahab fined the 45-year-old for ill-treating or neglecting her child in Sau Mau Ping on September 30 last year. She had pleaded guilty.
A report ordered by Mr Wahab found it was unsuitable to punish the defendant with probation or community service.
Outside court, the woman protested her innocence, saying she left her daughter for three minutes because the girl had lost some money but she was watching the child.
The court previously heard that bruises doctors found on the girl came from the treatment of fire-cupping, where heated cups are placed on a patient's back to create a vacuum and release toxins.
Another cause was holographic meridian scraping therapy, where the skin is scraped to promote health, including by improving circulation and immunity. Northern mainlanders consider it normal to perform fire-cupping on the elderly and children, said the woman, who came from the north six years ago.
'This is the northerners' way, and we need to accept this tradition. Cupping is like a beauty treatment, like yoga. It's for maintaining health,' she said. 'Hongkongers like to make soup; we northerners like to do fire-cupping.'
She said she still performed cupping on her daughter.
A security guard alerted police after passers-by reported seeing the woman walk away from her daughter at Po Tat Shopping Centre on the Po Tat Estate at 9pm. The girl cried loudly.
The guard, who knew where the woman lived, told a policeman.
The girl was taken to United Christian Hospital, where doctors found bruises on her chest, back and arms.
The woman has another daughter, 20, from her first marriage. The three live together on Po Tat Estate. Their names have not been disclosed to protect the girl's identity.
