A Hong Kong mother who abused and starved her five-year-old son to death was sentenced to 22 years in prison, with the judge condemning a crime that exposed a “savage nature utterly devoid of the empathy inherent to motherhood”. The boy weighed 9.7kg (21.3 pounds), about half the normal weight for his age, and was one metre tall at the time of his death. The report also suggested the boy suffered prolonged abuse including force-feeding, gagging, gripping and violent rubbing. No food residue was found in his stomach, suggesting he had been starved for at least a few days before his death, according to the findings. The High Court earlier heard that the mother isolated the child in his room and allowed him to come out only a few times a week.