Mother of death leap girl gets one-year sentence for overstaying by Hong Kong court as father escapes jail

The Filipino mother of an undocumented 15-year-old girl who fell to her death from a luxury flat in Hong Kong’s Repulse Bay in April was today sentenced to 12 months in jail for overstaying, while her father escaped jail at Eastern Court.

Herminia Garcia was jailed, but her de facto husband Nick Cousins, a director with insurance giant Jardine Lloyd Thompson’s Hong Kong branch, was given a sentence of eight months in jail, suspended for two years.

Sentencing the couple, Magistrate So Wai-tak said Garcia had stayed in Hong Kong for more than 20 years, five of which were before the couple cohabited.

He refused to accept defence lawyer Giles Surman’s mitigation that this was a unique case, as overstaying was a continuous offence, often involving offenders setting up family ties in Hong Kong. So stressed he did not want to send out the wrong message.

Meanwhile, So said, Cousins should not serve the same sentence as his de facto wife, given that he did not start providing her shelter and financial support until years after Garcia began to overstay. He also said Garcia bore Cousins' first daughter in 1999, giving him limited options.

"[Cousins’] role is a passive one," he said, before suspending the sentence.