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Cliff Buddle

POLICE are looking for a maid following the death of a baby in her care, it was revealed at the Coroner's Court yesterday.

  The one-year-old girl, a twin, died in hospital from a perforated intestine after bruising was found on her forehead and arms, the inquest was told.

   The baby's mother, Li Man-cheung, said the maid told her the child had accidentally injured herself when jumping onto a bunk bed.

   But the maid, Lorna Valenzuela, was sacked after the baby's death and has now disappeared.

  Coroner Warner Banks adjourned the inquest until November in the hope that the maid can be found.

   The court heard Ms Valenzuela has now overstayed her visa and this may be the reason she has not come forward.

   Coroner's officer Sondra Riley said: 'The maid has not been located. Inquiries have been made with immigration and she apparently has not left Hong Kong.

  'I have been told that sometimes these maids just do not surface for months.'    Only the maid can give a full account of what happened to the girl, Li Ka-yiu, the inquest heard.

  The child had suffered from a series of health problems in the weeks before her death, including a sore throat, an allergic skin condition, vomiting, and finally severe stomach pains.

  Mrs Li, a clerk from Diamond Hill, said the maid had informed her on April 21 that the child had 'hit herself on the bunk bed'.

   The mother said the maid had worked for her for three or four months. She does not know where she is now.

   Ms Riley asked her: 'Had your little girl ever appeared frightened of the maid?'    Mrs Li replied: 'She didn't like to be in her company. Whenever she saw me, she came to me or my relatives instead of going to the maid.'   The baby's aunt, Cheung Shuk-chun, said she saw bruises on the child's arms several days before her death.

  But when she asked the mother about them she was told they were the result of an allergic skin reaction.

  Ms Cheung said she had never seen anyone abuse the child.

  The baby was taken to the United Church Hospital suffering from stomach pains and went straight into the emergency unit. She died that day.

   The body was identified by the child's father, Li Man-chung, a supermarket manager.

  Pathologist Dr Choi Chung-ho said it was likely that the perforation of the child's intestine was caused by a 'blunt trauma' - a medical term for physical damage.

  Dr Choi told the court that a perforated intestine could be caused by abnormal development, disease, infection or ingestion of a sharp object.

  However, he could find no traces of any of these in this case.

  After the hearing, the police appealed to the maid to come forward and help clarify the circumstances surrounding the baby's death.



Police seek maid after death of baby in her care