Birthday becomes death day

Birthday becomes death day

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He told his friends that children should be taught like pets, requiring methods to gain their obedience from the bottom of their hearts. He said this when his daughter was just two years old, living in a subdivided flat in Sham Shui Po, her daily life filled with screams and the sound of her banging against the walls.

A few months later, while his wife was downstairs buying McDonald's, he beat his daughter unconscious within ten minutes. Afterwards, instead of calling for help, he called a friend to discuss business.

In March 2025, the Hong Kong High Court found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment. This tragedy was foreshadowed from the beginning, but no one had time to stop it.

Liu Jieping, born in 1983, was a transport worker. Ms. Liang, born in 1984, graduated from junior high school. The two met in September 2016, decided to live together two weeks later, and Ms. Liang became pregnant the following year. On July 29, 2017, she gave birth to a daughter, named Liang Si. The two never registered their marriage, and the child took her surname.

Tragedy struck just two weeks after the baby's birth.

On August 12, 2017, Liu Jieping argued with Ms. Liang and physically assaulted her, causing severe facial injuries. Ms. Liang was still in her postpartum period at the time. Liu Jieping was convicted of grievous bodily harm and imprisoned. Ms. Liang was hospitalized, and their newborn daughter, Asi, was taken away by the Social Welfare Department and spent time in a children's home and foster care. The foster mother, Ms. Lin, later said that Asi was very timid when she first arrived; she would tremble with fear if someone spoke loudly, but gradually she began to smile.

In April 2019, Liu Jieping was released from prison. In June, Ms. Liang took her two-year-old daughter, Asi, back from foster care and reconciled with Liu Jieping. The three moved into a subdivided flat in Sham Shui Po. The flat was small, but Ms. Liang wanted to give her daughter a complete family.

Liu Jieping harbored resentment over his past imprisonment. He blamed Ms. Liang, believing she was responsible for his imprisonment. This hatred gradually transferred to his daughter. He established numerous rules in the subdivided flat: his daughter couldn't cry or make a fuss, and he even forbade Ms. Liang from showing too much affection to her child. Ms. Liang later said that during that period, the house was like a powder keg, ready to explode at any moment.

Liu Jieping once told Ms. Liang in a message: "Teach children like pets; use methods to punish them until they obey you from the bottom of their hearts."

He truly did this. When Asi cried, he would grab her shoulders and shake her violently until she was so frightened that she shrank back and dared not make a sound. Neighbors later testified that they often heard a man's roars and the sound of banging against the wall coming from the subdivided flat, followed by the little girl's cries, which would suddenly stop, followed by several dull thuds.

Ms. Liang dared not stop him; Liu Jieping threatened to harm her father who lived in her hometown. She considered taking her daughter back to her parents' home, but never dared to take that step.

On the morning of July 18, 2020, Asi obediently greeted her mother with "Good morning" after waking up. Liu Jieping said he wanted McDonald's and asked Ms. Liang to go downstairs to buy it. Before leaving, Ms. Liang saw her daughter sitting on the bed talking to her father.

At McDonald's, Ms. Liang saw a new menu item and made a video call back to ask Liu Jieping which one he wanted. As soon as the call connected, Liu Jieping coldly said, "Ah Si just fell off the bed and is unconscious."

On the screen, Ms. Liang saw her daughter's eyes half-open and unresponsive. She panicked and told Liu Jieping to call the police immediately. Liu Jieping replied, "Buy breakfast and come back first."

Ms. Liang rushed back to the subdivided flat. Ah Si was lying unconscious on the bed. Liu Jieping pretended to perform CPR, but his eyes were chillingly cold.

The investigation later revealed that after Ah Si fell unconscious, Liu Jieping delayed calling the police for a full eight minutes. What he did during those eight minutes is unknown; he might have been making up lies, or cleaning up evidence. He told the paramedics that his daughter had fallen from the edge of the bed, which was half a meter high, and threatened Ms. Liang to say the same thing.

Doctors performed a CT scan on As, revealing extensive deep brain hemorrhage, an injury typically seen in high-speed car accidents or falls from heights. Experts in court stated that a fall from the bed could not possibly cause such an injury. The forensic report was even more heartbreaking—As, only two years old, had suffered severe atrophy of her immune organs due to prolonged exposure to extreme fear and high-pressure environments.

The hospital performed emergency craniotomy, but As suffered extensive brain damage and survived for over ten days on machines. On July 29, 2020, her third birthday, she passed away from multiple organ failure.

While Liu Jieping's daughter was in critical condition in the hospital, he calmly discussed business on the phone with a friend. That call record later became irrefutable evidence in court.

The trial began on February 17, 2025. Ms. Liang, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, could only testify via video link from another room. Trembling, she recounted on camera how her husband treated their daughter. When her defense lawyer questioned her past bad habits, she cried, saying she had given up all her bad habits since becoming pregnant with As. "I'm standing here today to give my daughter an explanation," she said.

Seeing he couldn't deny it, Liu Jieping changed his story, saying he had only "overreacted," admitting manslaughter and seeking a reduced sentence. The jury of four men and three women unanimously found him guilty of murder.

When the judge pronounced his life sentence, Liu Jieping did not cry in the dock. He hadn't cried once throughout the entire ordeal.

Following the incident, Hong Kong passed the "Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse Ordinance," requiring teachers, social workers, and doctors to report any signs of child abuse, or face legal consequences. This was a change Hong Kong society finally made after experiencing these tragedies.

While writing this, I kept thinking of one scene—the words her foster mother, Ms. Lin, said to reporters outside the courthouse: "She's so good; she smiles when she sees people."

A child of just over two years old, having seen few people and experienced so little warmth, still learned to smile at people. That smile lasted only a short time before her father abruptly cut it off.

Liang Si died just hours before her third birthday. She had lived in orphanages, foster families, and subdivided flats throughout her life, experiencing only brief periods of peace. She had never eaten a complete birthday cake. As an observer, I prefer to believe that she is now in a place without rules, without yelling, where she can run and jump freely. It's just that there's no cake in that place; she still hasn't had time to grow up.