Hong Kong father fined for beating son over poor school record
Court hears the punishment was so severe that it broke parent’s sports shoes
A truck driver who repeatedly beat his 12-year-old son so hard that he broke a pair of sports shoes in punishing the boy because of his bad school performance was fined HK$2,000 on Monday.
The father, 48, who the Post decided not to name to protect the identity of the child, had pleaded guilty in Kowloon City Court to one count of ill treatment or neglect of a child.
His lawyer said in mitigation that he was a first-time offender who did not know how to parent his child when the offence took place, but that he was willing to improve his communication methods and relations with his son through counselling offered by the Social Welfare Department.
“The father has learned a valuable lesson,” his lawyer told principal magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen.
The court previously heard that the father used his sports shoes to hit his son’s head 10 to 20 times when he came home after school on May 16 last year.
The father did not give his son a chance to explain himself. Instead, he slapped the boy’s left cheek once, and went on beat his right upper arm six or seven times, his stomach twice and his right wrist two or three times.
The beating lasted more than an hour, leaving the boy feeling very painful.
The sports shoes were broken and later thrown away.
The incident was reported after a social worker noticed the boy’s injuries and brought him to Caritas Medical Centre for treatment.
Doctors found a 2cm bruise on his left cheek, a 0.5cm bruise over his left ear and a 2cm bruise over his upper left arm.
His case was later classified as physical child abuse during a Social Welfare Department case conference
On his arrest, the father admitted under police caution that he beat his son to serve as punishment for his bad school performance.
The magistrate said the father should have a proper conversation with a social worker so he can learn how to raise his child in the correct manner.
