Ugandan asylum seeker arrested for allegedly leaving daughter, 4, unsupervised in Hong Kong flat
Neighbour found girl alone at home after midnight and called police
An asylum seeker from Uganda was arrested after she left her four-year-old daughter alone in a sub-divided Mong Kok flat in the early hours of Friday.
The girl was unhurt and taken to a public hospital for assessment, according to police.
Emergency personnel were first notified of the situation at the Tong Mi Road flat shortly after 12.30am on Friday.
“One of the neighbours found the girl alone at home, feared for her safety and called police,” a police source said.
He added that the girl’s mother, 40, returned home while officers were checking the scene. She was arrested on suspicion of ill treatment or neglect of a child.
“An initial investigation showed the woman left home to buy something about an hour ago,” the source said.
He said police would work on the case with the relevant authorities, such as the Social Welfare Department.
At noon, the mother was still being held for questioning at Mong Kok Police Station and had not been charged.
The Social Welfare Department handled 256 cases of child abuse in the first three months of this year. There were a total of 892 cases last year.
Among the 256 cases, 63 per cent involved the children’s parents, while 42 per cent of such cases were related to physical abuse, according to government statistics.