Home alone boy, 6, takes bus trip
Police arrested a woman on suspicion of ill-treating her six-year-old son, who took a bus ride from Tung Chung to Tsim Sha Tsui when he was left home alone on Monday night.
The case came to light at about midnight when the expatriate boy flagged down a taxi at the junction of Nathan Road and Tak Shing Street, about 100 metres from Tsim Sha Tsui police station. 'A good-hearted taxi driver picked up the boy and took him to Tsim Sha Tsui police station,' a police officer said.
The boy had no apparent injuries and was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital for examination.
Initial inquiries found his 44-year-old mother left him alone in the family's Tung Chung Crescent flat when she went shopping at about 7pm on Monday, a police officer said. The father, a European, is out of town.
The Thai woman told officers the boy was asleep when she went out, another officer said. He believed the boy woke up, left home and caught a bus to Tsim Sha Tsui. When the boy's mother returned home and found her son missing, she went to Tung Chung police station to seek help at about 10pm.
The woman was released on bail of HK$500 and must report back to police on February 10. The boy was being cared for at the hospital last night.
The Social Welfare Department is following the case. A spokesman said social workers, doctors and police would soon discuss the boy's future in a case conference. 'The conference will discuss if the child abuse is established. We will also study if his mother is suitable and capable of caring for the boy,' he said.
