Third Ex-foster Home Carer Jailed For Child Abuse

A former worker at a foster home in Prince Edward was on Thursday sentenced to six and a half months behind bars for abusing two toddlers.

Cheung Wai-yin, 30, had earlier admitted to ill-treating or neglecting two boys at the Children's Residential Home in November and December last year.

Kowloon City Court previously heard that Cheung had assaulted the one-year-olds, including slapping and shoving them.

Passing sentence, Acting Principal Magistrate Peony Wong described the defendant as lacking compassion, noting she did not appear to care much about the toddlers.

The court also rejected Cheung’s plea that she had merely acted out of impulse.

Cheung was among 34 former workers at the foster home facing charges in connection with the scandal, in which 40 children were allegedly abused at the facility run by the Society for the Protection of Children.

Two defendants, Heung Wing-shan and Lam Mei-po, were previously sentenced to up to around seven months in prison after pleading guilty.

Separately, members of the Commission on Children have been briefed on an interim review report compiled in response to the scandal by the Committee on Review of Residential Child Care and Related Services.

Thirty-one recommendations, including increasing manpower, conducting surprise inspections, and introducing new technologies to security cameras to identify improper behaviour, were made in the report.

The review committee will also compile a second-phase report which is expected to be completed by March next year.

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