Hong Kong teacher convicted of spraying alcohol sanitiser in her pupils’ faces jailed 10 months
Court speaks of responsibility to protect children in passing sentence following Ann Leung Pui-ki’s conviction
Courts had a responsibility to protect children, a magistrate said yesterday in sentencing a teacher to 10 months in jail for spraying alcohol-based hand cleaning liquid into the faces of seven special needs pupils.
Ann Leung Pui-ki, 47, was convicted by Tuen Mun Court last month of 11 counts of wilful assault causing injury to a child, after she pleaded not guilty to all charges.
READ MORE: Hong Kong teacher punished special needs pupils, some as young as 6, by spraying alcohol sanitiser in their faces
While magistrate Winnie Lau Yee-wan accepted the defence claim that no pupil was injured, she noted that their skin, eyes and mouth had been exposed to alcohol and that spraying might have led to their ingesting the substance as they were too young to protect themselves or ask for help.
The health risk was real, she said, as the offence was committed multiple times over a sustained period.
“I believe the court has the responsibility to protect the children,” the magistrate said. “An immediate custodial sentence is appropriate and there is no reason not to hand it down.”