Judge slates 'calculated criminal act' of father who abandoned his two children
Cho Described As Actions Were 'callous' His 'cowardly' Ennis Court: And At Cheung
A judge has described a father who abandoned his two school-going children to travel to Singapore to a woman he met online as "callous" and "cowardly".
At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Francis Comerford said that Cho ‘Simon’ Cheung (51) abandoning his children in October 2016 was “a calculated criminal act”.
Mr Cheung abandoned his daughter Ciara, then aged 11, and his 15-year-old son nine years after the children’s mother had left the family home in Shannon, Co Clare, to go back to Hong Kong.
Judge Comerford said the offence “is an egregious example of callousness and cowardice on behalf of the accused”.
He said that Mr Cheung was cowardly for lying, saying that he was going to Dublin instead of Singapore, and callous because he knew that the children's mother hadn't been in their lives since his daughter was two.
Judge Comerford said: “He knows his children are about to lose the presence of granny who has been there for years. He picks that time to head off without explanation.
He said that Mr Cheung deserved to go to jail for 22 months but said that he would suspend the prison term in full.
The man has two children with his new wife and Judge Comerford said that he wasn't sure if it is right to impose the same harm that was brought on the victims in this case to impose that on two more children.
Judge Comerford said that to send the first-time offender to prison now would do more harm than good in terms of the impact it would have on the two younger children.
He fined him €1,000 which he acknowledged was “a tiny amount” in comparison to the harm he had caused but the judge said that he had to take into account his financial circumstances.
Judge Comerford said that his heart went out to the two children in the case.
Mr Cheung had pleaded guilty to two counts of wilfully abandoning his two children in a manner to cause unnecessary suffering under Section 246 of the Children’s Act.
The daughter Ciara is now 17 and going to college.
In her victim impact statement, she told the court her heart shattered in October 2016 when she learned that her father lied when he said he was going to Dublin when he instead “left the country for a woman you only met months ago”.
She said that her two biological parents leaving the family home made her feel worthless but that her mental health had since improved.
Addressing her father, she said: “I blamed myself for six years for your doing. I was never worthless. It was never my fault. It was your fault for thinking only of yourself and nobody else — not even your family that I thought you cared about."
Det Sgt Kevin O’Hagan from Shannon Garda Station told the court that after Mr Cheung's now former wife and the children’s mother left the home in 2007 to return to Hong Kong, the children's grandmother (mother of the accused) arrived in Ireland to help raise the children.
By autumn 2016, Mr Cheung's mother had decided to return home to Hong Kong as she was in her mid-70s. She returned in November 2016 shortly after her son had gone to Singapore.
The children were brought into family foster care of the man's sister who also lived in the Shannon area.
The woman that the accused had met online had come to Ireland earlier in 2016 to further the relationship with him but there had been conflict between her and Mr Cheung's mother in the home and she returned to Singapore.
Mr Cheung left for Singapore in October 2016 when his new partner was pregnant with their first child.
Det O’Hagan said: “He did have responsibility for the child in Singapore. That is accepted, but I don't think you can flick a coin, Judge."
Counsel for Mr Cheung, Rebecca Treacy BL said that she is instructed to apologise to his two children.
She said: “He is extremely ashamed and embarrassed by his actions and hopes that someday it might be possible to mend the relationship he had with his family.
Ms Treacy added that there is absolutely no excuse for shirking responsibility in relation to his children but said it was not a case that Mr Cheung left in the middle of the night and left children unsupervised.
She said that he was under the mistaken belief that there were structures in place.
Det O’Hagan said that Mr Cheung was arrested at Dublin Airport after he returned to Ireland in November 2020 for work when he was subsequently charged and remanded on bail.