Hong Kong father who beat son with vacuum cleaner, putting him in hospital for two weeks, spared jail
- Attack was punishment for skipping school and coming home late
A Hong Kong single father who put his son in hospital for two weeks by beating him with a vacuum cleaner tube was spared jail on Monday.
Instead, the 52-year-old unemployed man, who pleaded guilty to two counts of wilful assault causing injury to a child, was given 18 months’ probation by acting chief magistrate Peter Law Tak-chuen.
The assault took place on November 17 last year, when his son, now 15, was chatting with his friends at home in Shek Kip Mei.
The father asked his son why he had been skipping school and coming home late, but he refused to answer. The man then climbed to the upper bunk of the bed – where the boy was lying – and hit him repeatedly on the thigh, arm and shoulder with the vacuum cleaner.
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In a previous hearing, the father told West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court he had been struggling with mental illness and his health had improved since he started taking medication again.
The father said he had reconciled with his son, who had dropped out of school and had been in his aunt’s custody since the incident.
The court heard the father hit the boy at least eight times during the exchange. He suffered scratches to his left thigh and redness on his scalp, left arm and left leg. He was in hospital for 13 days.
