An Indonesian domestic helper was found guilty yesterday of ill-treating the four-month-old son of her employer.
However, District Court judge Merinda Chow Yin-chu adjourned sentencing to February 6 pending a background report on Siti Fatimah, 34, and a medical report on the baby.
Chow also denied the defense counsel's request that Fatimah remain on bail and remanded her in custody.
Fatimah told the court in an earlier hearing that she had accidentally hurt the baby while grabbing his left hand to stop him from falling from her arms on March 2.
However, Chow said the injuries could not have been self-inflicted and that the incident could not have happened as related by Fatimah.
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Chow believed Fatimah had intentionally abused the baby.
She noted that, prior to the incident, Fatimah was on good terms with the Leungs who, she said, had shown understanding over the difficulties in taking care of a baby.
The baby was left with Fatimah and his grandmothers from March 2-5 when his parents went on vacation overseas.
On March 2, one of his grandmothers heard screaming. The maid eased the grandmother's fears by saying the baby was hungry, but it took them hours to put the baby to sleep as he kept crying and refusing to have his milk.
Two days later, when one of the grandmothers was bathing the infant, she noticed his left arm was swollen like "a carrot."
When the parents returned, they took the baby to a doctor who ordered his confinement for eight days in a hospital. At that time, Fatimah admitted to police she had accidentally hit the baby's arm against a door in February.
The family had earlier also found a bite bruise on the baby on February 18 last year but dismissed it when Fatimah denied knowing anything about it.
Nickkita Lau
