Adoptive mom in baby-killing horror

PatsyMoy

A toddler died of severe brain injuries after being repeatedly dropped on her head by her adoptive mother, a Court of First Instance judge was told yesterday.

The incident was witnessed by a chef in a hotel opposite the flat of the mother, Candy Chan Man-yum.

Judge Judianna Barnes Wai-ling adjourned sentencing to December 11 pending psychiatric and psychological reports on Chan, 50, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Chan adopted the baby from an orphanage in Jiangxi in September 2007 and brought her to Hong Kong in August last year.

Prosecutor Flora Cheng Suk-yee said Chan had told her mother that taking care of the 13-month- old baby was a difficult and stressful task.

The attack took place on October 13 last year, a month before Chan was due for a psychiatric assessment.

Chef Lau Ho-yin said he was taking a break after dinner at around 10.10pm when he saw a woman holding a baby by its feet, shaking it violently and then dropping it on its head.

The woman, later identified as Chan, did this repeatedly, Lau said.

He later saw Chan rubbing the baby's chest and administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

About 20 minutes later, Chan took the baby to Kwong Wah Hospital, claiming she lost consciousness after falling out of her cot.

The baby had no pulse but doctors managed to re-establish a heartbeat and transferred her to the intensive care unit.

But she died five days later.

Chan was arrested after doctors suspected the case involved child abuse.

She later admitted to police she lost her temper after being unable to stop the baby from crying.

Defense lawyer Sabrina See said Chan had had a traumatic life, having been raped when just 15 and also had two abortions. She was never married.