Hong Kong will seek custody of boy allegedly abandoned by father in Singapore

[WildestDreams]

Hong Kong will seek custody of boy allegedly abandoned by father in Singapore: source

Mentally disabled boy, 11, brought back to Hong Kong on Thursday as police say they are confident they can prosecute father

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 07 August, 2014, 1:36pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 07 August, 2014, 1:57pm

Clifford Lo [email protected]

The boy, 11, was found wandering alone on Singapore's Marina Promenade last month. Photo: Reuters

A court order will be sought to give Hong Kong’s Social Welfare Department custody of the 11-year-old mentally disabled boy allegedly abandoned by his father in Singapore last month, a police source says.

The boy, who uses sign language, was brought back to Hong Kong in the early hours of Thursday and taken to his boarding school for children with learning difficulties in Aberdeen.

He was said to be in good health, just over two weeks after being found wandering alone along Singapore’s Marina Promenade.

Another source said police are confident they have enough evidence to prosecute the boy’s father, 45, in Hong Kong.

The father, arrested and released on bail last month, did not meet the boy at the airport or the school, according to a government source.

“A care-and-protection order will be sought in court to award the Social Welfare Department custodial authority of the boy,” a police source said.

A department spokeswoman said this morning that they would follow up on the boy’s long-term welfare.

Representatives from the police, Immigration Department and Social Welfare Department, as well as the boy’s schoolteacher, flew to Singapore on Wednesday. They arrived back to Hong Kong with the boy shortly before 1am.

He was then taken to the boarding school, which he left last month to return home for summer holidays.

Police believe his father took him to Singapore on July 21, and he was found on the promenade at about 8pm that evening. The father arrived back in Hong Kong alone on July 23.

Singapore police made a public appeal for help to find the boy’s family as he did not respond when they asked him for his personal details.

After days of investigation, they sought help from Hong Kong’s police. On July 25, officers arrested the man at his home in Ping Shek Estate, Choi Hung. He has been released on bail and must report back to the police next week.

Another police source said today: “We have enough evidence to prosecute the father in Hong Kong.”

The source said the alleged offence was planned in Hong Kong and the suspect should be tried in court in Hong Kong for ill-treatment or neglect of a child, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail.

Detectives from the Kowloon East regional crime unit are investigating the case.

The boy was originally from a family of four with an older brother, but his parents were divorced. He was then raised by a carer who married his father and gave birth to a daughter three years ago.

According to police sources, an initial investigation revealed that the father – exhausted by trying to take care of his son – dumped him in Singapore after researching welfare for mentally disabled children there.