A decide has described a father who deserted his two school-going kids to journey to Singapore to a lady he met on-line as “callous” and “cowardly”.
At Ennis Circuit Court docket, Decide Francis Comerford mentioned that Cho ‘Simon’ Cheung (51) abandoning his kids at their Co Clare house in October 2016 was “a calculated prison act”.
Mr Cheung deserted his daughter, Ciara then aged 11 and his 15 12 months outdated son 9 years after the kids’s mom had left the household house in Shannon to return to Hong Kong.
Decide Comerford mentioned Mr Cheung’s offence “is an egregious instance of callousness and cowardice on behalf of the accused”.
Decide Comerford mentioned that Mr Cheung was cowardly for mendacity, saying that he was going to Dublin as an alternative of Singapore and callous as a result of he knew that the kids’s mom hadn’t been of their lives since his daughter, Ciara, was two.
Decide Comerford mentioned: “Mr Cheung is aware of his kids are about to lose the presence of granny who has been there for years. He picks that point to go off with out clarification. It was a calculated act of abandonment and calculated to trigger hurt.”
Decide Comerford mentioned that Mr Cheung deserved to go to jail for 22 months however mentioned that he would droop the jail time period in full.
Decide Comerford mentioned that to ship first time offender, Mr Cheung, to jail now would do extra hurt than good by way of the affect it might have on Mr Cheung’s two youthful kids and the pursuits of society wouldn’t be finest served by a direct custodial sentence.
Decide Comerford additionally fined Mr Cheung €1,000 which he acknowledged was “a tiny quantity” compared to the hurt Mr Cheung brought about however mentioned he needed to consider Mr Cheung’s monetary circumstances.
Decide Comerford mentioned that his coronary heart went out to the 2 kids within the case.
Mr Cheung, previously of Lios Rua, Ballycasey, Shannon however now dwelling in Longford had pleaded responsible to 2 counts of wilfully abandoning his two kids in a way to trigger pointless struggling below Part 246 of the Kids’s Act.
The household lived at Lios Rua, Ballycasey in Shannon and Ciara is now aged 17 and goes to school.
In her sufferer affect assertion, Ciara informed the courtroom her coronary heart shattered in October 2016 when she discovered that her father lied when he mentioned he was going to Dublin when he as an alternative “left the nation for a girl you solely met months in the past”.
She mentioned: “I’m 17 now and you’ve got been gone for six years. Dwelling with out two mother and father has been past tough.”
Ciara mentioned that after her father left, “I’d come into college with pink eyes crying a lot”.
She mentioned that her two organic mother and father leaving the household handmade her really feel nugatory.
She mentioned: “If it wasn’t unhealthy that one dad or mum left, two gone made my life disintegrate into thousands and thousands of items that I used to be thought was inconceivable to repair.”
Ciara mentioned that slowly her psychological well being has gotten higher.
Addressing her father, Ciara mentioned: “I blamed myself for six years to your doing. I used to be by no means nugatory. It was by no means my fault. It was your fault for pondering solely of your self and no person else – not even your loved ones that I assumed you cared about”.
Det Sgt Kevin O’Hagan of Shannon Garda station mentioned that Cho Cheung labored as a chef at totally different Chinese language eating places round Eire after arriving right here in 1994.
Det O’Hagan mentioned that after Mr Cheung’s now former spouse and the kids’s mom left the house in 2007 to return to Hong Kong, Mr Cheung’s mom arrived in Eire to assist increase the kids.
Det O’Hagan mentioned that by Autumn 2016, Mr Cheung’s mom had determined to return house to Hong Kong as she was in her mid-70s and returned in November 2016 shortly after Mr Cheung had gone to Singapore.
Ciara and her brother had been introduced into household foster care of Mr Cheung’s sister who additionally lives in Shannon.
The girl Mr Cheung met on-line had come to Eire earlier in 2016 to additional the connection with him however there had been battle between her and Mr Cheung’s mom within the house in Shannon and she or he returned to Singapore.
Mr Cheung left for Singapore in October 2016 as his new companion was having their first baby.
Counsel for Mr Cheung, Rebecca Treacy BL mentioned that she is instructed to apologise to his two kids.
She mentioned: “He’s extraordinarily ashamed and embarrassed by his actions and hopes that sometime it is likely to be doable to fix the connection he had along with his household. He accepts full accountability for his actions.”
Ms Treacy added that there’s completely no excuse for shirking accountability in relation to his kids.
Ms Treacy mentioned that it was not a case that Mr Cheung left in the midst of the night time and left kids unsupervised.
She mentioned that he was below the mistaken perception that there have been buildings in place.
Det O’Hagan mentioned that Mr Cheung was arrested at Dublin Airport after he returned to Eire in November 2020 for work when he was subsequently charged and remanded on bail.
Decide Comerford lifted all earlier reporting restrictions within the case and counsel for the State, Lorcan Connolly BL mentioned that Ciara Cheung was high quality with being named.