A landlord ordered a penniless orphan and his grandmother on to the streets yesterday, the day after the boy buried his father.
Yen Ka-yan, 12, said the owner of his North Point home turned up at 12.30 pm and threatened to lock him in if five months' rent totalling $32,500 was not paid.
Ka-yan, who was playing with a classmate while grandmother Wong Yee-fung, 78, was out shopping, was told to leave the first-floor flat at 36 Kam Ping Street immediately.
'I was very frightened and refused to open the iron gate,' the Primary Six pupil said.
'I was worried the man would lock it and set my home alight and I would not see my grandmother again.' Ka-yan sought help from his father's friend, Wong Chock-yee, 42, who alerted police.
Last night, the boy and his grandmother were allowed to stay in the three-bedroom flat after police asked the owner to collect the rent through legal channels.
Ka-yan's father Yen Yim-shouk, died of lung cancer on June 28 and his funeral was held in Cape Collinson Crematorium, Chai Wan on Tuesday. His mother, Chung Sau-har, died of cancer four years ago.