Probation for mother who made daughter pose for nude photos

A mother who forced her teenage daughter to strip at knifepoint and pose naked for photos in an effort to stop her being promiscuous was sentenced to two years' probation yesterday.

The single woman, identified as WKC, 40, had pleaded guilty in District Court to one count of ill-treating a young person in her custody and another of making child pornography.

But Judge Kwok Wai-kin said a custodial sentence would not be appropriate because the circumstances were "unique".

The court heard WKC had been driven to alcoholism by her daughter's promiscuity.

The girl had "non-stop" sexual relationships with men and spent one night last year in bed with two men and a woman.

The incident related to the charges took place last November after the girl had an abortion when she was just 15.

WKC threatened her with a 28cm knife and ordered her to take off her clothes.

She slapped and kicked the frightened, weeping girl as she took 35 photos and filmed two videos, the court heard.

The girl told her father and a social worker about the incident.

WKC told the court her aim in taking the photographs was to warn her daughter against sex.

Passing sentence yesterday, the judge said: "[The defendant] could not figure out why her daughter liked to show her naked body to men. She was afraid of her daughter becoming - like herself - a single mother with neither academic knowledge nor economic ability."

But the judge said the offences were still serious. "She violated a mother's natural duty to protect her children, and instead … caused her harm and humiliation," Kwok said. He added that after the incident, the girl showed signs of discomfort and stress when talking about sex. However, she had returned to a normal state of mind and was living in Macau with her grandmother.

Kwok said a probation order would be the best way to enable WKC to learn how to be a good mother and to get along with her daughter in the future.

The court heard WKC, who is half-blind, had endured a difficult life. Her parents divorced when she was six, she dropped out of school at 15 and was briefly married before the age of 20 to a man who mistreated her.

She later became pregnant, only to find that the man was married to another woman, and tried to commit suicide.