Two Hong Kong women pleaded guilty in District Court to abusing a four-year-old girl by punching, kicking and burning her with a lighter.
Chan Tin-yau, 36, and her 41-year-old girlfriend Fung Ka-po pleaded guilty in the District Court on Wednesday to one count of ill-treatment of a child in their care, Sing Pao reported.
Chan also pleaded guilty to possession of dangerous drugs and of a tool for taking drugs.
The court heard that the girl’s mother asked Chan, whom she knew from when they spent time together in prison, to look after her twin daughters, the victim identified as X and her sister identified as Z, between November 1 and December 1 last year.
After about three weeks, Chan reportedly called the mother to tell her to pick up Z as the twins were naughty together. On November 22 the mother took Z away, leaving X in Chan’s care.
On December 1, the mother received a call from Chan telling her that X had collapsed, but had recovered consciousness after receiving cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
The mother rushed to the subdivided flat in Kowloon’s Mong Kok and called in the police after seeing X in a semi-conscious state with injuries all over her body.
A scan showed X suffered from blood clots and swelling in her brain. She recovered consciousness on December 5.
A 10-minute video clip taken by the babysitters was shown in the court on Wednesday, Oriental Daily reported.
The video showed the child’s nose clamped in a giant metallic clip while Chan and her girlfriend scolded her in the background.
Chan admitted slapping X, punching her in the abdomen and grabbing her private parts as punishment for not wearing her pants.
She also said she had placed a lighter near X’s feet, causing blisters.
Fung admitted hitting and slapping the child.
The judge adjourned sentencing until January to await a report on the trauma suffered by X during the abuse.