Hong Kong couple found guilty of murdering 5-year-old daughter in horrific child abuse case
- After 10 hours of deliberations, High Court jury also finds step-grandmother guilty of two of four counts of child cruelty
- The girl was rushed unconscious to hospital in January 2018, her body covered in over 130 injuries; her older brother, who survived, had suffered a similar amount of harm
A Hong Kong couple have been found guilty of murdering their five-year-old daughter three years ago in one of the city’s most horrifying cases of child abuse.
The girl’s 56-year-old step-grandmother was also convicted of two out of four counts of child cruelty.
A High Court jury of three men and four women on Tuesday returned the verdicts after 10 hours of deliberations, following a month of heartbreaking testimony from family members, teachers and doctors.
Murder and manslaughter are both punishable by life imprisonment, while the cruelty charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. All three defendants had no prior convictions.
The father was found guilty of murder by a unanimous vote, and the stepmother was convicted by a 6-1 majority. The grandmother was unanimously cleared of ill-treatment of the children, but was found guilty of two counts of neglect by a vote of 6-1.
None of the defendants showed a visible reaction to the verdicts.