According to PSP spokesman Fong Cheong Chun, the Public Security Police received a report from a hotel manager in Zape on Monday at around 11 p.m. that a toddler had been left alone in a guestroom.
According to Fong, at around 8 p.m. when the hotel staff usually do a routine room check, a staff member heard a baby crying and knocked on the door of the room but no one responded and so the staff member opened the door with the master key and found the toddler in the room crying.
The hotel record shows that its staff looked after the toddler and waited for the parents to return but no one showed up so they reported the case to the police.
After further investigation, when the hotel CCTV was checked, it emerged from the footage that the mother and the toddler checked into the hotel at 1 p.m. on Monday and the mother left the room at 3 p.m. and did not return until the next day at 3:45 a.m. when she was taken to a police station for further questioning.
The woman told the police that she had gone to gamble and lost her phone and spent many hours looking for it. She also admitted to child neglect, according to Fong.
The unemployed woman, who is around 40 years old, is a Hong Kong non-permanent resident from Fujian province. No further details were provided by the police, such as if she is married.
The child is a girl, aged a little over a year old and is now in the care of the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) while the mother was told to present herself to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) on Tuesday for further questioning.
If found guilty of child neglect, the suspect faces between one and five years behind bars.
PSP spokesman Fong Cheong Chun poses during yesterday’s regular press briefing. Photo: Joel Chu
