Hong Kong - A mother who abandoned her 5-day-old baby on a hillside has been jailed for six months in Hong Kong, a court report said Saturday.

Pakistani Maria Bibi, 24, left her son wearing only a diaper on the hill near a road in October. He as found by workers 11 hours later, his body crawling in ants.

Bibi appeared in court Friday, pleading guilty to one count of exposing a child to the extent his life could be endangered. She claimed she had left the boy because he was born out of marriage and, as a result, both parents and child would be killed according to her religion.

In sentencing her, the magistrate said the baby was missing "the greatest love of all" - that of a mother for her child. He said he believed Bibi had placed her own welfare above that of her newborn baby.

A second charge of breaching immigration conditions was withdrawn against Bibi, who also has two older children, 2 and 4, by a former husband. (dpa)