A four-year-old girl's body found on a hillside showed numerous signs of physical abuse, a jury heard yesterday. The rain-soaked body of Lee Wing-sze was found in bushes in Tin Shui Wai on the evening of September 11 last year - hours after she had been abandoned. Forensic pathologist Dr Lai Sai-chak said he could not pinpoint the cause of death but was sure Wing-sze had died following physical abuse 'within a short period of time'. Dr Lai, who examined the body at 12.25am on September 12, said Wing-sze had been dead between 12 and 36 hours. 'If she had been taken to hospital as soon as possible she could have survived,' Dr Lai told the Court of First Instance. Wing-sze's body was not located until about 7.30pm on September 11 after her minder, Wong Siu-wai, volunteered the location to police. Police officers testified that no pulse or breathing could be detected when Wing-sze was found. Wong, 34, told police that she had left Wing-sze, alive, behind at the site that morning to teach the girl's father a lesson. There had been an argument about payment for looking after the child, the court heard. She denies murder and preventing the lawful burial of the body. An autopsy revealed numerous bruises on Wing-sze. The bruises and abrasions 'scattered all over the body' were consistent with physical abuse and could have been inflicted within a day before death, Dr Lai said. But there was insufficient evidence pointing to abuse in the past, he said. The child also suffered multiple head injuries from a blunt instrument, but Dr Lai could not be sure if those injuries had been life-threatening or had led to unconsciousness. None of the multiple abnormalities appeared to be a sufficient cause of death, according to Dr Lai, who listed the possible causes as drowning, suffocation, head injury and complications of coma. The trial before Mr Justice Colin Jackson continues.
