Two women were arrested yesterday, separately, for child neglect, police said. In one case, a three-year-old girl left alone in a flat in Central appeared to have crawled out of the window onto a canopy.
The three-year-old girl was found sitting on top of the canopy in 32 Gilman's Bazaar, at about 1.30am. She was later rescued by the Fire Services Department and taken to Queen Mary Hospital. She was not injured.
Subsequent investigation found that the girl was not living with her parents. At the time of the incident, she was under the custody of her 47-year-old Thai grandmother, Phannarong, who lived in the first floor flat, above the canopy.
The police found no other person in her flat at the time the incident happened.
Ms Hui, an operator of a nearby restaurant who first discovered the girl sitting on the canopy, said the girl appeared to have climbed out of her flat window.
'It scared me to find the girl sitting on the canopy. We asked her not to move, and then we immediately called the police and sent for an ambulance. When we asked her where her grandmother was, she said she was not at home,' Ms Hui said.
Ms Phannarong said she had been suffering from a stomach ache at the time, so she left her granddaughter at home to consult a doctor.