Woman tried to cut baby out of mum’s belly

Attacker who faked pregnancy wanted child of her own, court told
Woman tried to cut baby out of mum’s belly – Yvonne Tsul (South China Morning Post 11/9/09)

A woman who was desperate for a child and had faked pregnancy for months – deceiving even her husband – strangled a pregnant acquaintance into unconsciousness then cut open her belly to remove her baby, a court heard yesterday.

Leung Sin-ting, 27, slashed a 10cm wound in the abdomen of the 37-week pregnant woman whom she had met on a childcare website and invited to her home, a prosecutor told the Court of First Instance.

The infant, who suffered brain damage and impaired bodily functions because of the injuries to the mother in the attack last September 16, died in North District Hospital on March 17.

Leung pleaded guilty to manslaughter of the baby.

The court heard that Leung, who claimed to have suffered miscarriages in 2003 and early last year, had pretended to be pregnant by wearing towels tied under her clothes.

Her ruse had been so successful that she had convinced her husband of four years that he felt the baby moving in her womb.

She had even persuaded a doctor to give her a certificate so that she could claim maternity leave and had put her own name on other women’s ultrasound images to show to family and friends.

On the day of the attack, Leung told police, she had “suddenly had an evil idea” and “wanted to see the baby”.

She said she was jealous of the expectant mother’s happiness and wanted the child for herself.

Leung admitted manslaughter after the prosecution accepted that she only wanted to remove the baby from the mother’s womb and did not necessarily intend to kill it.

She also pleaded guilty to one charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm on the mother, as an alternative to a charge of attempted murder, which she had denied.

Defence barrister James McGowan told Mr Justice Darryl Saw that the attack took place out of Leung’s desperation to have a baby.

Saw adjourned sentencing to October 27 to seek psychiatrists’ and psychologists’ reports to help decide whether Leung should be committed to a mental hospital and whether she posed a long-term risk to the community.

The deputy director of public prosecutions, John Reading SC, told the court that Leung, using the internet alias “Minnie Tong Tong”, came to know the victim – identified only as Ms Lee – through a forum on a website called Baby Kingdom.

She offered Lee a baby bed and feeding bottles, and the pair exchanged contact information.

On the afternoon of September 16, Leung invited Lee to her home at Flora Plaza in Fanling to pick up the items.

As Lee was about to leave, Leung complained she had a sore back and abdomen and asked Lee to massage her while she applied an electronic massager to her belly.

Leung kept crying as if she were in pain, so Lee decided to stay with her until her family came home.

Lee had talked about feeling the baby growing.

When the fetus kicked, she had asked Leung to stroke her abdomen to feel it.

She told Leung she was expecting a boy.

Suddenly Leung, who was still complaining about the pain, stood in front of Lee and shouted: “I’m scared!”

Lee had embraced her and said: “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid.”

But then she felt pressure on her neck and was unable to breathe and realized Leung was strangling her with the cord of the massager.

As she lost consciousness, she heard Leung repeatedly saying she was scared.

Reading said Leung cut open Lee’s abdomen after she passed out.

Leung’s husband, Chan Man-choi, called the police after returning home to find his wife in the kitchen with the injured woman, who Leung claimed had cut herself after suffering a cramp.

Lee underwent an emergency Caesarean section at North District Hospital to deliver the baby and Leung was arrested early the next morning.

In subsequent interviews, the court heard, Leung had said she had become pregnant in January last year but had an abortion after she felt the fetus had no heartbeat.

But when she was taken to the hospital with the victim, she had told the doctors she was 38 weeks and nine days pregnant.

Leung had managed to get a certificate for her pregnancy from a Dr Wong Chi-kwong, to assist her application for maternity leave from the company where she worked as a clerk.

Police also found 21 ultrasound images bearing her name, which she admitted belonged to pregnant colleagues.

Leung said she had changed the names on the images to her own and shown them to her husband and friends so that they would believe she was pregnant.

Evidence also suggested that her husband did not know the pregnancy was feigned until the day of the attack.

Police Inspector Kevin Lau Siu-nam said outside court that Leung had made contact with five pregnant women in the week leading up to September 11 – the date on which she claimed she was due to deliver a baby boy.

He also said there was no evidence to support Leung’s claim about her previous pregnancy and abortion.

The director of the Hong Kong Mood Disorders Centre, Lee Sing, said Leung’s case could be a “delusional pseudo-pregnancy” – an unshaken belief in a pregnancy that is objectively false.

He said such cases were extremely rare, and usually occurred in people who had fertility problems.

2. Summary
A woman, Leung, 27, who pretended to be a pregnant by wearing towels tied under her cloths because she was very eager to have a baby. She deceived her friends, even her husband. She tried to cut baby out of the other pregnant women. They had met in a childcare website and Leung invited to her home. The baby suffered brain damage and impaired bodily functions because of the injuries to the mother. At last, the baby died in North District Hospital on March 17. Leung claimed that she had an evil idea suddenly at that time. She only wanted to see the baby out of the mother’s womb and did not necessarily intend to kill it. Leung’s husband called police after returning home to find her wife in the kitchen with the injured woman.

3. Feedback
It is too horrible that the accident happened. A woman cut baby out of a mother’s belly that I never think it before. Although the woman is too eager to have a baby, she cannot do such thing to hurt the mother and the baby. They are innocent! If the woman’s husband did not return home on time, the mother may have the danger of life. Moreover, it is because the mother believed the woman that she would feel easy in mind when staying the woman’s home. But the woman deceived her and tried to cut her belly. Even though the woman is very poor, everyone cannot do wrong thing because of “I want”. If I want to be well-being, that can I go to rob? It cannot! We cannot do anything that violates the law and moral, even we are really desperate.