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One father from Tuen Mun, Hong Kong was sentenced to two years in jail last Wednesday, March 7, after trying to feed his young children with rat poison.
The man, addressed as CSK in court to protect his family, was in a drunken stupor when he told his six-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter to drink the rat poison. As reported by the South China Morning Post in March 7, the father also told his children that he would kill himself after they drink the poison.
It was a good thing the young children’s aunt was around and rescued them from their father. She was tasked to take care of them that night and took the poison from him when she saw him, rushing out to pour it down the toilet.
The father, in his failed attempt, turned to his daughter and lifted her from the floor by her neck, causing her to lose breath and become dizzy. The aunt came back to rescue her and locked the children inside a room, but still, the father kicked the bedroom door and threatened to kill his daughter.
Police arrived just in time at the scene to arrest him. In court, the father’s lawyers stated that he was having financial problems after he left his job as a funeral home clerk to become a salesman.
“Alcohol is a solvent which, if [someone gets] addicted, can dissolve families and careers,” Madam Justice Maggie Poon Man-kay told the father, as quoted in the report. She also criticized him, saying harming children is “one of the most dreadful crimes” and that “society expects parents to control their emotions.”
Before sending him away, Madam Justice Poon Man-kay also told him, “Whatever problem you have in life, you should not vent your emotion on helpless children.” Cody Cepeda/JB
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