A Hong Kong man has been jailed for seven years for killing a three-month-old boy under his care, after a court heard the defendant had thrust a cotton bud into the baby’s throat and scorched him with hot air from a hairdryer.
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Jerry Ip Chun-yin, 38, on Tuesday admitted to manslaughter by gross negligence for abusing the infant whom he had promised to look after for his wife’s friend in August 2022.
The High Court also recorded a guilty plea from Ip and his spouse Lam Ka-hei, 27, for child cruelty arising from the mistreatment of the boy, who was slapped in the face and thrown in the air before his killing.
Lam was sentenced to three years and two months after the court accepted her actions were less violent than those of her husband at their 120 sq ft flat in Tai Kok Tsui.
Ip, who worked as a communication technician at a container terminal, was additionally fined HK$2,000 (US$257) for breaching a 2021 bind-over for neglecting the three-year-old son he had with his ex-girlfriend.
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The deceased, identified in court as X, was in good health when his mother entrusted him to the defendants’ care in July 2022.