The Judiciary Police (PJ) have arrested a local woman for beating her four-year-old son as he refused to eat his breakfast, resulting in bruises on the boy’s head, PJ spokesman Leng Kam Lon said during a regular press conference yesterday.
Leng identified the suspect as a 43-year-old casino dealer surnamed Choi, who lives with her husband and son in a flat in Rua de D. Belchior Carneiro, a street near the St Paul’s Ruins.
On Sunday morning, Choi beat her son on the palms of his hands with a clothes hanger in their home as he refused to eat his breakfast, Leng said.
According to Leng, as the son refused his breakfast again on Monday morning, the woman beat her son again, this time on his head with a pair of chopsticks. Witnessing the incident, Choi’s husband tried to persuade her to stop beating their son. This, however, resulted in her getting more emotional and pushing her son over, Leng said.
Afterwards, the boy’s father took him to kindergarten and told the staff about the incident, Leng said. The kindergarten staff took the boy to the public Conde de Sao Januario Hospital Centre where a doctor confirmed that the victim had bruises on his shoulders and head, Leng said, adding that the physician confirmed that the contusions were caused by deliberate hitting with an object.
As a result, the kindergarten reported the case to the police. PJ officers arrested Choi following an investigation, according to Leng.
Under questioning, Choi admitted that she had beaten her son multiple times with her hands or clothes hangers over the past year as her son was naughty, according to Leng, who added that Choi has been transferred to the Public Prosecution Office (MP) for possible arraignment on a charge of causing bodily harm. According to Article 137 of the Macau Penal Code, offenders face up to three years in prison or a fine.
On Monday, the Judiciary Police (PJ) announced a similar case in which a mother was arrested for beating her four-year-old son as he set a sofa in their home ablaze when playing with fire.
In that case the woman, aged 37, was also identified as a casino dealer. The family lives in a subsidised home-ownership scheme (HOS) flat in Seac Pai Van in Coloane.
