The youngster was beaten and starved before being drowned, the court is told
A three-year-old girl was tortured by her mother and her lesbian lover before having water forced down her throat and drowned, a court heard yesterday.
Cheung Yuet-yi sustained more than 150 bruises over her body and suffered serious swelling to her brain as a result of the beating she received on July 31 last year. She was later declared dead at Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital.
Her mother, Chu Ka-man, 24, and lover Au Yeung Wing-yan, 28, took turns to torture the girl after she wet the bed, hitting her buttocks, feet and hands with a 12-inch wooden ruler and a baseball bat.
At the Court of First Instance yesterday, Au Yeung, a former kindergarten teacher, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and Chu, who was unemployed, admitted assault by those in charge of a child.
The court heard that on July 31 last year, Au Yeung kicked Yuet-yi when she refused to speak to her after the beating. The pair then made the girl stand facing a wall for seven hours as both of them took an afternoon nap.
Later the same evening, after denying her food, Au Yeung took the three-year-old for a shower and sprayed water on her face for more than a minute.Yuet-yi then slipped and fell on the ground. The court heard that drowning and serious brain injuries caused Yuet-yi's death. The couple were arrested after they alerted police.