At about 10 o'clock yesterday morning, the Hong Kong police received a report from a 9-year-old boy that he and his two younger siblings were left alone in the apartment of Hong Yat Yi House in Yat Tung Estate.
Hong Kong police officers rushed to the scene and found a 6-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy in the unit, and 3 were not injured.
It is reported that yesterday morning, his parents and mother had an argument with her husband because she missed an appointment and could not go out with her family, and went downstairs to relax after her husband left home to work.
The 9-year-old eldest son saw his mother leaving home with tears in his eyes and was worried that something would happen to her, so he called the police for help.
As a result of the investigation, the 36-year-old mother was arrested on suspicion of "abuse or neglect of a child or juvenile in her care", and the children were placed in the care of their grandmother.
As soon as the report came out, netizens talked a lot, and some netizens said that the 9-year-old child was originally worried about his mother, but now it's okay, don't worry about his mother, because his mother went to the police station and was very safe.
Some netizens said that after the husband and wife quarreled, the husband left under the pretext of going to work, and the wife's emotions could only be digested alone, and at the same time, it was not easy for the mother to take care of the three children.
Some netizens also said that it should be enough for a 9-year-old child to take care of his two younger siblings, and it seems that his parents often quarrel and give the child a sense of insecurity, so he will call the police, otherwise it would not be so.
Some netizens also said, what a big, people's children are worried about their parents, it's good for the police to help them get it back, at most two sentences of education, why do you want to arrest your mother?
And many people are also curious, why don't they arrest their fathers, but their mothers? Some netizens replied that it should be the mothers who go out last, because in Hong Kong, it is a violation of Hong Kong law to leave children alone at home.
Under the Offences Against the Person Ordinance (OPA), a carer who wilfully abuses or abandons a child under the age of 16 causing unnecessary suffering or harm to his or her health is guilty of an offence and is liable to imprisonment for up to 10 years.
This article refers to the British law of 1908 and was added to the Hong Kong law in 1913, and it has accompanied Hong Kong for 100 years and is still in use.
Interestingly, is 16 years old considered a child in Hong Kong? Because in Hong Kong, the minimum legal age for marriage is 16 years old, and you can register your marriage at the age of 16 as long as you have a consent form.
Since you can get married at the age of 16, does that mean you can adopt a child if you get married? No, according to Hong Kong law, you must be at least 25 years old to adopt a child.
Note that the age of the child mentioned above refers to 16 years old, but according to another piece of Hong Kong legislation, the term "child" in the Employment Ordinance refers to a person under the age of 15.
In Hong Kong, you only need to be at least 13 years old to be employed in a non-industrial organisation, and parents only need to show the organisation that the child has completed Secondary 3, also known as the Junior Secondary School Leaving Certificate.
This includes businesses that go to convenience stores and sell alcoholic beverages, but note that if you want to buy alcoholic beverages in Hong Kong, you have to wait until you are 18 years old.
Sometimes you may think that Hong Kong's laws are so perfect that they seem to be explained clearly, but sometimes they are so contradictory that they are incredible.
For the 9-year-old boy's report, the police could not help but enforce the law strictly, but it seems to have solved the problem, but whether it is worthy of promotion in Hong Kong society now, and whether the family will be harmonious in the future is another issue.