Supervisors at a boys' home had no idea who ordered a 14-year-old to be held in solitary confinement for six days for being the suspected ringleader of a late-night disturbance, a juvenile court heard yesterday. The boy has denied trying to escape on August 11 from O Pui Shan Boys' Home, Lai Chi Kok, six days after an incident in which about 20 boys left their rooms, with some breaking into a staff room. He was being held at the home indefinitely after being convicted of car theft while on probation last December. Ha Sheung-po, head of the home's social work assistants, told Kwun Tong Court an investigation was ordered on the morning of August 6 after the disturbance. 'I only recommended that the police should be invited to handle the incident, and no proposal was made about having the boy live separately. I have no idea why the boy was being held.' Senior social work assistant Pang Kin-ah, who was asked to investigate, gave a different account. 'It was arranged for [the boy] to live separately from the rest of the inmates temporarily [while the probe continued] ' he said. 'Past experience indicated [the confinement] might only be for a few hours.' Caseworker Tam Chi-keung said he did not have a direct role in the probe, as claimed by Mr Pang and Mr Ha. 'I only called the superintendent [Tsang Pui-ching] to ask her whether police assistance was required,' he said. Ms Tsang earlier told the court she had locked the boy in a vacant dormitory from the day of the disturbance until he attempted to escape. She had said the boy was moved to solitary on the recommendation of the three supervisors. The supervisors deny this and maintain they did not know the boy had been held in solitary for six days. Barrister Cheung Yiu-leung, representing the boy, had earlier alleged that his client had been held in solitary confinement for a month. After failing to obtain written evidence from the home stating the length of the confinement, he did not pursue this claim yesterday. The case continues before Magistrate Tsang Fan-hoi.
