A mainland woman was on Monday handed a suspended prison sentence after admitting to abandoning her son in Hong Kong.

The 37-year-old mother pleaded guilty to one charge of cruelty to a child at the Kowloon City Magistrates' Court, for leaving her 12-year-old son at Kwong Wah Hospital on July 21 before returning to the mainland.

In mitigation, the defence said the woman understood her responsibilities and hoped to return to the mainland to take care of her son and his younger sibling.

Principal Magistrate Don So said an immediate prison sentence for the mother would seriously affect her two children, and therefore decided to hand down a four-month jail sentence, suspended for three years.