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Man admits neglect over girl's burns

A little girl was permanently disfigured and may never be able to grow hair on her head again after being left unattended under a hot shower, a court heard yesterday.

The girl, who was 23 months old at the time, suffered second-degree burns to 65 per cent of her scalp and burns to other parts of her body when her mother's boyfriend left her to answer the phone, the District Court was told. The boyfriend, Chan Kwok-ho, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of child neglect.

Judge David Gill adjourned the case to Monday pending an expert opinion from Andrew Burd, of the burns unit at Prince of Wales Hospital.

Prosecutor Juliana Chow Hoi-ling said Chan was minding the child at his flat in Shamshuipo on November 8, 2001.

Some time between 4pm and 5pm, he left the child without completely turning off the tap to answer a phone call from her mother.

'Suddenly, the defendant told the child's mother he heard the child crying ... [Later] the mother asked the defendant to apply ointment,' Ms Chow said.

At 5pm, he called the mother back to say the girl's face was red, that she was short of breath and had been vomiting. At 5.30pm, he and the girl got into a taxi to go to the Caritas Medical Centre.

But the mother told him by phone he might not be able to register at the hospital without her birth certificate, so Chan took her back home. When the mother returned about 6.30pm, the two took the child to the Caritas centre, where she required resuscitation and was admitted to intensive care.

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