Hong Kong father who shook 3-year-old daughter to death jailed for life

A Hong Kong father has been sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of murdering his three-year-old daughter by shaking her to death in 2020, with a judge slamming him for using aggravated violence against a defenceless child.

Madam Justice Anna Lai Yuen-kee on Wednesday passed the mandatory life sentence for murder on Lau Kai-ping, 42, after he was convicted of killing Leung Nga-sze in July 2020 by the High Court jury last week.

The defendant had 12 previous convictions, including one for wounding Nga-sze’s mother, Helen Leung, by splashing corrosive liquid onto her. He served a 20-month prison term for the crime and was released in April 2020.

He had been out of jail for only a few months before committing the violence that led to his daughter’s death.

Lau admitted holding Nga-sze’s shoulder and shaking her a few times on the morning of July 18, but said he was not aware that such action would harm her.

Hospital doctors found signs of bleeding beneath the girl’s skull and in her retinas, along with old bruises on her inner thighs. She was suspected of suffering from shaken baby syndrome and died on July 29.