Chinese-Australian Mother Charged With Criminal Neglect After Baby Found Dead in Adelaide Motel; SA Health Holds No Records of Mother or Child
ADELAIDE — South Australia's Health Minister Blair Boyer said on October 17 that the state's health authorities could find no record of a baby boy found dead inside an Adelaide motel room, or of his 42-year-old mother, Yue Ning Lieu, anywhere in the SA Health database, and that the baby's birthplace still could not be confirmed. Lieu, a Chinese-Australian woman also known as Linda Lieu, and her 40-year-old partner Benjamin Nicholas Houghton have both been charged with criminal neglect and concealing human remains to pervert the course of justice. They remain in custody, with their next court appearance set for May 3, 2027.
According to South Australia Police, officers attended the Tollgate Motel at Glen Osmond, in Adelaide's south-east, on the morning of Saturday, October 10 to conduct a welfare check on an infant believed to be staying at the motel. Police gained entry to room four and located the body of a deceased infant; ABC reported the body was found underneath blankets. Police said the infant had been deceased for a period of time. Local media reported the welfare check followed an anonymous call to the motel suggesting police check on the baby in room four; police have not publicly identified the caller.
A post-mortem conducted on Monday, October 12 found the boy was aged about six to seven months. According to court documents cited by ABC, the alleged offences occurred between August 9 and October 10 this year. Police announced on October 13 that the pair had been charged with criminal neglect and destroying or concealing human remains to pervert the course of justice; Australian media reported Houghton was additionally charged with one count of hindering police. The pair had been detained under the Mental Health Act before the charges were laid.
On October 12 the couple appeared before the Adelaide Magistrates Court in a bedside hearing. Neither applied for bail, and both were remanded in custody until May 3, 2027.
Police said the couple had been living in room four of the Tollgate Motel since arriving in South Australia at the beginning of the year, and had not had contact with South Australian authorities since that time. SA Premier Peter Malinauskas said the family was not known to the state's child protection department. SA Police Minister Michael Brown confirmed on October 13 that charges had been laid but said he had no further information he could provide.
The investigation was initially conducted by Eastern District detectives, but police said that due to the nature and complexity of the incident and the resources required, the Major Crime Investigation Branch has taken over. Police are asking anyone who has stayed at the Tollgate Motel, and specifically anyone with information about the occupants of room four, to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000; callers can remain anonymous.
ABC reported that in 2021 Lieu was reported missing with her then two-year-old daughter — a different child — from Riverwood in Sydney's south, and New South Wales Police issued a public appeal to locate them at the time. In a blog, Lieu describes herself as a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner living and working in Sydney. The baby boy in this case is not the child named in the 2021 missing-person appeal.
Police have not released the baby's cause of death, and the charges remain before the courts. Police said no further comment would be made at this stage of the investigation. (GSM, based on South Australia Police statements and ABC and AAP reports)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：澳大利亚 Adelaide 市中心全景（资料图）。照片：Vishnubonam／Wikimedia Commons（CC BY-SA 4.0）。Adelaide city centre panorama, South Australia (file photo). Photo: Vishnubonam / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
