Hong Kong child’s death was result of excessive corporal punishment and gross negligence, but was not murder, her father’s lawyer claims
- Manslaughter only reasonable conclusion, lawyer says, arguing actions mean tougher charge ‘is a bit far-fetched’
- Prosecution argues little girl was ‘repeatedly tortured’ and parents provided ‘terror and pain, not love and care’
Lawyers defending a Hong Kong couple accused of murdering their five-year-old daughter have argued her death was the result of excessive corporal punishment and gross negligence, as prosecutors maintained the case was too serious for manslaughter.
The High Court on Wednesday heard closing arguments in the trial of the girl’s 29-year-old father and 30-year-old stepmother, after she died of septicaemia on January 6, 2018.
The couple have admitted to child cruelty inflicted upon the girl and her eight-year-old brother over 150 days from August 10, 2017, but denied murdering her. The children’s 56-year-old step-grandmother has denied all four counts of cruelty.
Both murder and manslaughter are punishable by life in prison, while the cruelty charge carries a maximum term of 10 years.
At issue was whether the parents had the intent to cause the child grievous bodily harm, and how involved the step-grandmother was.
They provided terror, they provided pain, a lot of pain.
Derek Lai Kim-wah, the senior assistant director of public prosecutions, said he had rejected the parents’ offer to plead guilty to manslaughter for the sole reason that the case was “much more serious” than excessive corporal punishment and gross negligence in their failure to provide timely medical care.