Hong Kong  - A Hong Kong mother whose infant daughter died after being left alone in the care of her 8-year-old sister on Friday began a two-year jail term.

Man Ching-yee, 29, who was out at a bar when her 3-month-old daughter died, was told by Judge Joseph Yau that she treated her children "worse than animals."

The infant, found bleeding from the nose and mouth and diagnosed as dying of infant death syndrome, had been left in the care of the woman's oldest daughter.

The baby's death came after repeated complaints from neighbors that the four children were left alone with no food by their mother and their sewage worker father.

Yau expressed amazement that such a case could happen in modern Hong Kong and said the infant's death in 2007 must have come as a relief after the catalogue of neglect in her short life.

Man pleaded guilty to four counts of ill-treatment and neglect at a hearing in Hong Kong's District Court Thursday and was jailed for two years.

Her husband, Lin Ka-shing, 31, pleaded guilty to the same charges and was jailed for one year and 10 months. The three surviving children are now with a grandmother and a care home. (dpa)