Single Hong Kong mother admits endangering her son in suicide bid

A single mother who was so desperate to burn charcoal to commit suicide admitted that she had endangered her son, the High Court heard yesterday.

But Wong Po-chu, 43, insisted she had no intention to kill her son.

She was charged with one count of attempted murder but the prosecution accepted Wong’s admission of a lesser charge of exposing a child in a manner likely to cause unnecessary suffering or injury to his health.

“[Wong] told the officer that she did what she did only because she could not see a way out at that moment. She did not intend to kill her son,” prosecutor Michael Arthur said.

Wong was diagnosed with a moderate to severe recurrent depressive disorder following her arrest. Deputy judge Michael Stuart-Moore adjourned sentencing to October 26 for a probation report.

The court heard that Wong was from Fujian province. She married in Hong Kong in 2003 and gave birth to a son in 2004. She divorced her husband in 2011 and had been taking care of her son on her own since then.