HONG KONG — A woman who cruelly neglected her daughter to the point that the seven-year-old nearly died and was reduced to a vegetative state was jailed for 15 years and three months in what a Hong Kong judge described as a grotesquely shocking case of child abuse, as he urged stiffer sentences for offences against children.

Justice Kevin Zervos slammed Mandy Wong Wing-man, 42, as being a very calculative, callous and cold-hearted mother who played favourites with her four children, isolating only her youngest daughter, Suki Ling Yun-lam, with “cruelty (that) knew no bounds”.

“There was deliberate, sadistic and systematic abuse of Yun-lam,” Justice Zervos said while Wong kept her head low in the dock.

“This was a case of extreme cruelty to a child over a protracted period.”

The girl’s father, Rocky Ling Yiu-chung, 52, was jailed for four years and six months for joining Wong’s efforts to tell a host of “well-rehearsed lies” carefully thought out to mislead those investigating her abuse.

Justice Zervos’ final comments on Friday (June 29) suggested that Ling might face another probe, as he directed prosecutors to review the case and see if he and other relevant individuals were also involved in neglecting Suki.

The court previously heard that one of Wong’s teenage twin daughters told police that she had beaten the younger girl with a cane. It is understood that the two girls and their brother are currently cared for by Wong’s friend.

Chief inspector Wesly Tse said police had proceeded with the current three charges after receiving legal advice from the Department of Justice.

“Police had actually considered all areas already,” he explained. “But we will see if we need to take further action.”

The judge also called for a reform for offences against children, in particular the maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment for child neglect.

“This punishment does not fit the serious levels of this crime,” Justice Zervos said.

There is no ceiling to the punishment for perverting the course of justice.

Wong was jailed for nine years and six months for neglect. The sentence will run concurrently with the penalties for the other two charges, for a total of 15 years and three months.

The sentencing drew a full house in the High Court, prompting the judge to invite those standing in the aisle to fill the empty jury stand.

Among the audience was the former jury forelady, who had with six other jurors unanimously found Wong guilty last week of child neglect and two counts of perverting the course of justice, one of which she was convicted for along with her ex-husband.

Justice Zervos said the case was a “grotesquely shocking case of child abuse”, with Suki suffering the most serious physical and psychological harm at the hands of her mother.

“The future for Yun-lam is grim, and what future there is for her will be under constant medical care,” he said.

“The life that she could have had has now been denied, and what life she will have will most certainly be in a vegetative state in which she will continue to suffer greatly.”

The tragic case came to light on July 18, 2015, when Suki was carried to hospital in a state of cardiac arrest, with serious injuries covering her emaciated body that weighed under 15kg.

She was diagnosed with irreversible brain damage, profound intellectual disability, severe malnutrition, gangrenous wounds and significant wasting that left her capable only of breathing and moving her eyes. X-rays also revealed old bone fractures in her body.

It took investigators months to find out who was responsible for her condition as her parents had fed them with lies in an attempt to deflect a police probe.

During the trial, Wong and Ling both claimed the other party was Suki’s true carer, blaming each other for exerting pressure to cover up their crimes by lying that their child was mentally and physically disabled.

They also made up stories about how Suki would play with excrement and urine and would refuse solid foods because she was anorexic.

But kindergarten records showed that the girl was a bright young seven-year-old who was doing well at school, with nothing physically or mentally wrong with her.

Her teachers however recalled seeing Suki limping and having bruises on her face and head.

At the time, she told them she had hurt herself while climbing trees on the mainland, despite the fact that she had never left Hong Kong during that period.

The girl was subsequently withdrawn from school in April 2015 after teachers made further inquiries with her mother, who then claimed Suki would be brought back to the mainland, where she was born.

Instead, the child was locked up at home until she was taken to hospital “pale, pulseless and breathless”.

Suki’s latest medical report on Tuesday stated that the “majority of children with similar conditions cannot survive beyond (the) second decade of life”.

Justice Zervos said: “It’s hard to imagine a case much worse than this one.” SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST