Teen gambled away money for grandma's funeral

ALTHOUGH the old granny was surviving on the little allowance subsidised by the Social Welfare Department, she took good care of her grandson.

After all the love and efforts she showered on the boy, the granny did not get back the treatment she deserved.

She died in 2008 but was only laid to rest a year later as the grandson lost all the money for her funeral at the gambling table.


On Tuesday, a court in the Special Administrative Region found the odd-job worker, 19, guilty and ordered him to continue with his rehabilitation course at a training centre.

The teenager had been undergoing the course since November 2008 after he was found guilty of selling illegal cigarettes.

According to Ming Bao, the grandson was sent to live with his grandmother in Hong Kong by his parents, who remained in China when he was nine years old.

In August 2008, the grandmother died at the hospital.

Then, a sum of HK$10,750 (RM4,710) was deposited into the grandson's account by the Social Welfare Department for the granny's funeral arrangements.

Two days after the money was given, the grandson took all of them and traveled to Macau.

He only returned five hours later after losing the money at he gambling table.

His grandmother was left at the hospital mortuary for a year and was only laid to rest in August 2009 with the help of police and the Social Welfare Department.

- Dhuruvan.