A Senior Social Work Officer of the Social Welfare Department (SWD) has praised two officers from Yuen Long District for helping a 13-year-old girl, a victim of physical abuse, to the extent of above and beyond the call of duty.

In a letter to the Force, Ms Pang Kit-ling, Officer-in-charge of the SWD's new Family and Child Protection Service Unit in Yuen Long, commended Senior Inspector Cheung Lok-chuen and Woman Police Constable Hui Nga-wai for their professionalism of "an exceptionally high order" in helping the girl who has been battered by her aunt.

Thanks to the officers' help and the joint efforts by police, SWD and NGOs, the girl has been reunited with her family on the Mainland. She will be able to return to school for the short term with money raised by SIP Cheung.

The girl's ordeal began in April last year when she was brought to Hong Kong by her father and left in the care of her aunt. The man later returned to the Mainland alone, rendering the girl an over-stayer in the territory. Since then the girl had been physically abused by her aunt, but never knew how and where to get help. Eventually her plight came to the attention of the police when a supermarket employee spotted multiple bruises on her body.

The girl was admitted to hospital as the mechanism for multi-disciplinary case conference was activated, involving social workers, doctors, medical social workers and police officers.

While WPC Hui guarded the girl in hospital, SIP Cheung, who was in charge of the child abuse case, attended the multi-disciplinary case conference and kept close contact with the Mainland's Public Security Bureau via the Liaison Bureau to arrange the girl's reunion with her family.

Ms Pang said she was impressed by the officers' love and care for the girl, and what they had done for her was above and beyond the call of duty.

During the girl's hospitalisation, WPC Hui tried to cheer her up by bringing some daily necessities and gifts at her own expense. On her days off, she returned to hospital to help the girl bathe.

On the other hand, SIP Cheung, on learning that the girl wished to continue her study in her hometown but her farmer-father could hardly afford 250 renminbi per school term, immediately started a small fundraiser with the help of his former schoolmates and close friends. He managed to raise some money which he gave to the girl on the day of her repatriation.

Both SIP Cheung and WPC Hui are modest about what they have done for the girl. "It wasn't a big deal. We were so upset that someone could have brought so much misery to a young girl," SIP Cheung noted.

Ms Pang attributed the "proper and speedy" handling of the girl's case to the efforts made by police and SWD last year to enhance frontline communication and liaison in handling domestic violence and related cases, in particular the "District Liaison Group", which was set up early this year. "The result achieved by the multi-disciplinary collaboration in this incident has reflected the functions of the liaison group," she noted.

A mechanism was also put in place last December to facilitate exchanges of case information between the police and SWD in tackling similar cases. "Such measure has reinforced contacts between both departments, helped families get appropriate services and prevented problems from reoccuring," Ms Pang added.

According to Woman Chief Inspector Wong Siu-hing from the Child Protection Policy Unit, there are currently 14 "District Liaison Groups" in the territory. Apart from the two groups set up for Central and Western District and Island District, SWD has set up a liaison group in each of the remaining 12 districts under its jurisdiction. Each police district has designated the Assistant Divisional Commander (Operations) (ADVC Ops) as a group member, as well as a point of direct contact. In general, those ADVC Ops who attended liaison group meetings have positive appraisals of the liaison group's functions.

WCIP Wong pointed out that to help frontline officers obtain more information and take appropriate action, a "Domestic Violence Database" started operating in early March this year in all police districts. From the database, the officers can check the records and facts of the previous domestic violence cases, in which the same subject persons were involved. About 1,000 such checks were made in the first two months of operation.

"Apart from providing more background information for frontline officers, the database can also be used to analyse the circumstances leading to the abusers' relapses. This could help formulate suitable ways and modes of police intervention," said WCIP Wong.