Were residents tied up and abused at Hong Kong home for disabled?
No arrests yet in police probe of private care facility in the New Territories
The police have opened an investigation into possible abuse at a Hong Kong residential home for the disabled after images of tied-up residents surfaced on Tuesday.
The Social Welfare Department said it alerted police after a Chinese-language media outlet published photos of residents tied to toilet seats and bound to beds at a private residential home in Kwai Chung run by Home of Treasure Company Limited.
The report also alleged the home had fed residents – all with varying disabilities – only vegetables and siu mai, a cheap dumpling often made of flour and preservatives, for meals.
A department spokeswoman said the government had organised for all the home’s residents to be assessed in hospital. Parents had been notified, she said, adding they had earlier been informed of and approved the use of constraints to “keep their children from hurting themselves”.
A police source said officers had met with department officials, residents’ families and representatives of the residential home.
The source said the matter was being treated as “pending assault occasioning actual bodily harm”. The case was now under investigation. No arrests have been made so far.
The alleged abuse came to light on Tuesday when a male 60-year-old resident told Chinese-language HK01 that workers had complained a tied-up resident was too noisy, so they bound him to his bed during overnight hours.
Over the past year, the home had been issued five advisory letters by the department for unspecified issues.
The home could not yet be reached for comment.