Hong Kong couple jailed for 9 months each over failed murder-suicide bid with children
- Judge says debt-ridden couple tried to burn charcoal three times in six hours while their two sons slept on November 5, 2021
A debt-ridden Hong Kong couple have been jailed for nine months each for child abuse after a failed murder-suicide bid involving their two young sons in 2021.
The District Court on Tuesday found the pair’s “grave” transgression called for immediate imprisonment, but decided a term commensurate with the time they had spent on remand was appropriate in light of the welfare of their three children, especially the two boys who had been put in harm’s way.
Deputy Judge Merinda Chow Yin-chu said the father, a 41-year-old plasterer, and his wife, 35, had tried to burn charcoal three times in six hours while the boys were sleeping in their bedroom on November 5, 2021.
The mother gave birth to a daughter while on bail pending the trial.
Chow dismissed the defence’s suggestion to sentence the pair to probation.
“Parents share the enormous responsibility of taking care of their children, but when [the two boys] slept on the same bed as their parents, they were left completely in the dark and deprived of the right to live,” she said.
