A mainland couple who spent the past seven months in jail so their children could go to school in Hong Kong walked free from prison yesterday.
Cheung Shun-ho, 50, and her husband, Tang Siu-kuen, 58, lived illegally in Hong Kong for 20 years before surrendering themselves to police so their children could obtain residency and receive tuition.
When a court jailed the couple in June, they told their eight-year-old twin sons they had gone to work in Beijing. The boys were left in the care of their sister, Tang On-yi, 19.
But the parents now face the prospect of being separated from their children again if the Immigration Department decides to deport them back to the mainland.
Ms Cheung, whose hair turned grey behind bars, dyed it black before being reunited with her sons yesterday. 'I don't want my sons to see me with so much grey hair,'' she said.
The couple told the boys they had finished work in Beijing. They said they had not told them the truth as they were afraid they were too young to understand.
Ms Cheung and her husband sneaked into Hong Kong in 1982. They gave themselves up in November 2001 to allow their boys and their daughter to obtain residency and to study here.
