Filipina jailed for visa violation
Print Edition
THE Filipina mother of a teenager who plunged to her death from an upmarket Hong Kong apartment was jailed yesterday for a visa violation which surfaced in the wake of the tragedy.
Herminia Garcia, 53, was sent to prison for a year for outstaying her permit to live in the city, despite the defence seeking mitigation in the wake of the “awful” loss of her daughter. Her partner, British businessman Nick Cousins, 58, was given an eight-month suspended sentence for helping her to breach her conditions of stay and for failing to register their daughters’ births.
In emotional scenes at Eastern Magistrates’ Court, Garcia was hugged by her tearful surviving young daughter as she was led away.
Cousins and Garcia had both initially been accused of neglect after their 15-year-old daughter fell 21 storeys from the apartment block in Repulse Bay in April. But the neglect charge against Garcia was eventually dropped and Cousins was never formally charged after an investigation.
Instead, they were charged with visa violations. It emerged in court yesterday that Garcia had been married to a husband in the Philippines who would not grant her a divorce.
Her right to stay in Hong Kong ended in 1994, the court heard.
Garcia pleaded guilty to “breach of condition to stay” and Cousins pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting her.
He also pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to register the births of their two daughters.
Magistrate So Wai-tak said they were “selfish” for flouting the rules.
“The children, though receiving proper education and care, do not have an identity,” he said.
He added that Cousins was given a lighter sentence because Garcia had already overstayed her visa by the time they decided to have a long-term relationship.
Defence lawyer Giles Surman said Garcia had wanted to divorce her husband in the Philippines but he refused to allow it.
Surman also described Cousins as a “wonderful man.”
“He admits he has made a serious mistake — he procrastinated in fixing the problem,” Surman told the court.
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