A scared and confused schoolgirl who threw her baby to its death from a window minutes after giving birth had received little sympathy from an unforgiving community, a court heard yesterday.
Cheung Lok-man, 17, was advised to leave her school because of the incident, and unsympathetic neighbours caused the family to move away from their home, the judge was told. The teenager, who wept in the dock, had kept her pregnancy secret and received no medical help.
'She felt so ashamed, frightened and concerned that she concealed the pregnancy from her family members. This led to her isolation and depression,' said Nelson Lam, defending. 'She felt that she was dying many deaths inside her.' Cheung gave birth to the baby girl alone, in a room at her family's home in Fanling on October 14 last year. Frightened and not knowing what to do, she threw it out of the window, the court heard.
She pleaded guilty at the Court of First Instance to the infanticide of the unnamed baby.
Cheung had originally been charged with murder and spent time in jail on remand before the charge was changed to infanticide.
Mr Lam said he found it alarming that Cheung, a Form Five student at the time, had not been able to stay on at her school.
'Unfortunately, in Hong Kong, even a school does not hold a very sympathetic view towards incidents like this. At the time she was studying in Form Five. But because of this she was advised to leave the school,' he added.
