Teletubbies scare: father of boy accused of damaging HK$52,000 statue in Hong Kong says toy store has promised refund amid social media backlash
- Father says he realised he was ‘misled’ about incident after video footage was posted on social media on Sunday, and that store has called him to offer apology and refund
- Video shows five-year-old leaning lightly against 1.8-metre-tall statue; staff had earlier told family the child kicked the figure before it fell
A Hong Kong designer toy store at the centre of a controversy over a damaged Teletubbies statue costing more than HK$52,000 (US$6,624) has promised a full refund to parents of a five-year-old boy accused of kicking the figure, according to the child’s father.
Cheng Pok-man, 39, told the Post on Tuesday that his son Lucas was in shock and had watched in horror as the 1.8-metre-tall statue fell and broke into pieces after he had lightly leaned on it at the KK Plus store in the Langham Place mall.
At the time of the incident on Sunday, Cheng offered to compensate the store and was later charged HK$33,600 for the broken statue. He said a staff member had told him his son had earlier kicked the statue. Cheng said the company contacted him on Tuesday morning for an apology and offered a refund.
The story had gone viral on social media after a video was posted on Sunday night, with the store coming under fire from online users over its initial handling of the matter.
The footage showed Cheng’s son leaning lightly against the gold figure, which was not fenced off to the public. A store employee previously told Cheng the child had kicked the statue.