British father of death jump girl, 15, charged with helping ‘de facto’ Filipino wife overstay in Hong Kong, court hears
Insurance executive appears in court, accused of helping de facto wife breach condition of stay and failing to register births of two daughters
A British insurance executive faced charges for the first time since his undocumented 15-year-old daughter jumped to her death from a luxury Repulse Bay flat in early April.
Nicholas Cousins, 57, was charged on Wednesday with aiding and abetting his de facto wife's breach of condition of stay and failing to register the births of his two daughters, a court heard yesterday.
Prosecutors laid the three charges on Cousins, a former managing director of Jardine Lloyd Thompson's (JLT) Hong Kong branch, more than four months after his Filipino de facto wife, Herminia Garcia, 53, who is known as Grace, was charged with one count of breach of condition of stay.
Prosecutor Vincent Siu said, without giving reasons in Eastern Court, that the prosecution had decided to withdraw Garcia's second charge, of ill-treatment or neglect by those in charge of a child or young person.
The latest charges against the couple were combined into one case, Siu said.
According to the new charges, Garcia was limited in her stay in Hong Kong until November 7, 1994, but she was found in the city on April 7 this year.
Cousins, meanwhile, "aided, abetted, counselled or procured" Garcia's breach of condition of stay, the court heard. He also allegedly failed to register the births of his two daughters.
