The photo of a male school student sitting alone at a fast-food restaurant in the early hours of the morning was circulated on social media platforms on Friday morning, and the Judiciary Police (PJ) said during a regular press conference later that day that the junior high school student studying in the northern district and staying in a residential care home in Mong Ha because of family problems, had not returned to the care home for several days.
The Judiciary Police found a posting on Friday morning about a minor in his school uniform lingering alone in a fast-food outlet in the north district in the early hours of the morning. In order to protect the boy’s safety, the police contacted the student’s school through the School Safety Liaison Mechanism and verified his identity.
At the same time, PJ officers were dispatched to the restaurant and the school to find out what was going on, and the Judiciary Police also notified the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) and the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) about the incident, PJ spokesman Ho Chan Nam said during Friday’s regular press conference, identifying the boy as a student enrolled in a junior high school in the northern district, who was admitted to the residential care home in Mong Ha because his family neglected him.
Ho pointed out at Friday’s press conference that the student had not returned to the residential care home for several days before he was found, adding that the Judiciary Police had yet to ascertain the time the boy was admitted to the residential care home and the time he started to hang out at the fast-food restaurant, only confirming that he was found sitting in the fast-food restaurant in the early hours of Friday morning. The case has meanwhile been referred to the Social Welfare Bureau, Ho noted.
Ho did not reveal the boy’s age and the name of the school. Neither did he disclose the names and exact locations of the restaurant and the care home.
Ho merely said that the care home operates under the Social Welfare Bureau.
Ho underlined that the Judiciary Police were only responsible for investigating and preventing criminal cases and that the police would intervene only if the Social Welfare Bureau and Education and Youth Development Bureau suspect that the incident involved criminal offences.
Boy ‘has not been properly taken care of by his parents’: IAS
Meanwhile, the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) released a statement on Friday night in response to the incident, saying that the student had left his residential care home wearing his school uniform on Thursday morning and did not return to the home that evening, so in accordance with the mechanism, the home first notified his family members, but the family members did not answer the home’s call. The statement underlined that the home also assisted in trying to find the student that night.
However, the Judiciary Police said at their press conference that the boy had not returned to the care home for several days until he was found at the fast-food outlet.
The statement said that according to the report of the residential care home, the student had left the home on his own on a number of occasions, with the care home requiring assistance to locate him.
According to the statement, the bureau had earlier been notified that the boy was not being properly taken care of by his parents.
With the assistance of the residential care home for children and youths, the bureau insisted that already before Friday’s incident, it had temporarily provided the boy with daily care, counselling and other related services, while urging his parents to fulfil their parental responsibilities.
The bureau did not elaborate on which follow-up measures it would take to ensure the boy’s well-being. Neither did it say whether the care home would face an investigation.
This photo provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) on Friday shows police officers trying to find out early that day why the boy was alone at a fast-food outlet in the northern district overnight.
