Crime

Caring grandmother in Dongguan beheaded over grandson’s gambling addiction rage

Posted: 02/2/2013 12:43 pm

A horrific story has emerged in little Dongguan, so read at your own risk.

It looks like anger management, and possibly mental illness, has resulted in another heinous crime.

A 75-year-old grandmother living in Dongguan lost her head, and her life, after getting into a war of words with her grandson Li Yaojing, 26, over his gambling addiction.

It’s reported that Zhan Cuixia went over to her grandson’s house to look after him – because his parents were working at the time.

Here is some more detail in China Press as reported by The Star:

The body of Zhan Cuixia and her severed head were found in the bathroom of her son’s house in Dongguan of China’s Guangdong province, some 10 minutes’ walk from her own home.

What’s not clear at the moment is whether there is a mental health issue attributed to the story – as all to often seen in the most notable murders.

The murder will be a painful experience for Zhan’s daughter who witnessed her nephew attack her mother.

“She was struggling on the ground and shouting for help, but I couldn’t open the door to go in and save her,” she said, adding that she sought help from neighbours, who said they heard the grandmother and grandson arguing over his gambling habit earlier.

This case echoes a similar story of a guy killing the owners of an internet cafe and setting fire to their shop, burning the bodies, too, after the internet dropped. Needless to say an argument ensued – and the rest is history.

Home Page Photo Credit: AsiaOne

Tagged: AddictionBeheadedDongguanGamblingGrandmotherGrandsonMental HealthNewphew

Man confesses to murder of teen Weibo star, but could it have been prevented?

Posted: 01/26/2013 9:31 pm

We bring you the latest news on the confession from the arrested 19-year-old in relation to the murder of high school student Tsang Yue Laitong. (You can read the background detail to this case from her body being found to the arrest.)

Many suspected her death was related to her constant updates on Weibo which included her whereabouts, but the accused, Meng Shuai, admits killing the 16-year-old but denies it was anything to do with her online presence.

It would seem like it was a case of wrong place, wrong time.

Meng says he acted to “take revenge on society.” Mounting problems in his personal life had come to a head. He resorted to a life of crime, namely robbery in this case, and this botched attempt was, again, for all the “unfair treatment” he’d received.

Tsang was well-liked by her classmates and teachers

Here’s more detail on what Meng told police:

Meng told police he saw Laiceng walking home alone on January 12, and he grabbed her and took her to an empty shop to rob her, according to Shenzhen Television.

But Meng told police he chose his target randomly and denied he found Laiceng based on her microblog, the TV report said.

Meng told police he had been cheated in a pyramid scam and had a tense relationship with his family. He decided to rob others to make a living and strangled the girl to death after she resisted, the report said.

(She is known as Lai Zengyutong or Laiceng Yutong in other reports.)

However, Sina reports a crucial bit of information from a witness who has spoken to the family:

Laiceng’s relatives told Shenzhen Television that a woman had witnessed a man grabbing Laiceng. The woman rushed to a factory to get help from a security guard.

The guard told her it was none of his business and no one called the police, the relatives told the TV station.

Unbelievably, the split second decision of the security guard might have cost the teenager her life, if proven to be true.

Tagged: Attempted RobberyGuizhouLai ZengyutongLaiceng YutongMurderSecurity GuardSelfishShenzhenStrangledTsang Yue Laitong

A 12 year-old Guangdong girl is 8 months pregnant

Posted: 07/18/2012 2:37 pm

Xiao Yu, a 12 year-old girl in Maoming, Guangdong Province is eight months pregnant after being raped, according to local media. Her bump is still barely visible unless she is standing up, so her parents only heard of the pregnancy one month ago from fellow townspeople.

After hearing the rumour, her sister took her for a check-up and a doctor at Huazhou Hospital confirmed the pregnancy. It later emerged that the girl had been raped by a 50 year-old man from the neighbouring village of Tongqing at her primary school, according to another relative.

The man seized her, covered her mouth and took her to a nearby shed before raping her. Since then Xiao Yu has often had nightmares and is a lot less outgoing than before, according to the relative. Her performance in school has also declined rapidly.

The family claim that the perpetrator is a man they regularly see around town playing cards for money.

The family lives in a cramped 40 square meter house and has no members with a high level of education or high earnings. Xiao Yu’s father is 60 years-old and has health problems, her mother has mental health problems, so family members have expressed doubt about their ability to raise the child.

The family have demanded the perpetrator be caught and punished and they also hope to receive financial compensation.

One netizen opined that the perpetrator must face the death penalty, because China must not allow such people to live. Another said the perpetrator should not be considered human, and should be killed.

According to Wikipedia, the youngest mother in history was five year-old Lina Medina in 1939. Medina is still alive but her son Gerardo died of a bone marrow disease at age 40.

Tagged: Huazhou HospitalMaomingPaedophilePaedophiliaPregnantRapeSchoolgirlTongqingTongqing Primary SchoolXiao Yu

Man detained for forging lottery ticket

Posted: 06/28/2012 3:29 pm

Plenty of people have expressed concern in recent years about how crudely materialistic China is becoming. There was the woman who said on television that she would rather cry in the back of a BMW than go for a romantic bike ride. Beijing-based singer Chuanzi sings satirical songs about how he cannot afford to do essential things such as own property or get married. And scandals about people doing dastardly things to make themselves rich are never far away.

But one Shenzhen man has proven to be somewhat less cunning than the best con-artists.

The hairdresser was arrested for forging a lottery ticket after the winning numbers were announced, according to Shenzhen Evening Post. After printing the ticket at a photographer’s shop for 5 yuan, the man, surnamed Huang, who lives in Longgang District took it to city’s lottery center to claim the 5.7 million yuan prize money.

On June 18, Huang, 20, entered the lottery center on Hongling Road in Luohu District. After receiving the ticket with the numbers 2012069, the worker thought it odd and asked Huang whether it was real. Huang explained that he had left it in his pocket when he was washing his clothes. An examination showed the ticket to be made with non-standard paper, and lacked all of the hallmarks of a legitimate lottery ticket.

The worker at the lottery center called the police. After being taken down to Guiyuan Police Station in Luohu, Huang first claimed that he had bought the ticket not knowing it was a fake, then explained that he found it. Eventually, he confessed to having it made for himself.

Huang, who comes from Meizhou in Guangdong Province, could face 3-10 years in jail, according to a lawyer. Ren, the photographer, could also face criminal charges. Ren claims he had initially been reluctant to help Huang.

When Huang went to the lottery center, he was accompanied by his friend who works in a factory. Huang, who is poorly educated and does not have a bank account, also lied to his friend and said he had washed the lottery ticket by mistake.

Tagged: ForgeryGuiyuan Police StationLottery TicketLuohu DistrictMeizhou

4 women mutilated in Shenzhen; it’s believed they are connected to a nightclub in Luohu

Posted: 06/28/2012 7:00 am

Four women, all of whom were performers in a nightclub, were murdered in the past 15 days in Shenzhen’s Luohu District, according to local media. Their bodies were chopped to pieces and disposed of into the sewage system. Two men have been arrested on suspicion of the murders.

When it was reported that sewage pipes below the district’s Chunfeng Road were blocked, workers discovered that mutilated human corpses had been disposed there. Two men who live in the Chanfengwan residential area are thought to be responsible, according to local print media.

On June 12, a man surnamed Chen reported his wife, surnamed Tan, missing at the district’s Nanhu Police Station. Her phone had been switched off since June 7 and they had not made contact since. Police made the case one of their top priorities when two more women, who lived in the same area and did the same job as Tan, were reported missing on the 19th and 20th respectively.

On June 21, two suspects, one surnamed Xie and one surnamed Lin were arrested, and murder weapons were found in their possession. It emerged that the men were pretending to recruit women from Bida’ao night club, and they would later murder them. The recruitment sign is still on the wall outside the club.

Neighbours expressed their disbelief at what had happened, with one woman saying she feared for her own safety.

Anybody who believes they can help the investigation is encouraged to call 3331123.

The nightclub Bida'ao

Tagged: Bida'aoLuohuMurderNanhu Police StationNightclub

Riots in Zhongshan, Sichuan migrants take on locals

Posted: 06/27/2012 12:23 pm

Big cities in China are known to have a festering animosity between locals and migrants. The country’s hukou system gives non-natives many disadvantages, and last year, Premier Wen Jiabao talked about putting a stop to this discrimination.

This animosity has now manifested itself in the form of a riot in Zhongshan City, according to local media.

A 13 year-old was set upon by a gang of 15 year-olds in front of the city’s Shaxi Center Primary school. Two locals intervened and tied up the three 15 year-olds. The teenagers who were tied up came from Sichuan and their friends and family gathered to fight back. At around 10 pm, 300 Sichuanese migrants gathered to confront locals and police.

A statement by Zhongshan police said everything was under control, but pictures circulating online show police being beaten and cars being burned. Witnesses said there were at least 300 people involved in the fight. Early reports suggest five people were killed including one policeman.

This footage of riot police approaching the scene has been uploaded, and the news has gone big on Sina Weibo. Sina Weibo user Lee Hong Wei expressed support for the police and the government. Jason Zhangzhengyuan urged police to get the Sichuan “dogs” out of their territory. Another urged the government to be careful about dealing with social unrest. Another called for an end to discrimination against Sichuanese migrants.

Cantonese-languaged media have covered the story, but an official death toll and other key information is yet to emerge.

Tagged: MigrantsPoliceRiotSichuaneseZhongshan

Man beaten, hospitalized by Shenzhen traffic police

Posted: 06/25/2012 7:00 am

While many of us come from cultures in which police are referred to as “pigs” or worse, there are plenty of people in this “harmonious society” who don’t love the cops either. Physical and verbal attacks on law enforcement people are quite common in China. Earlier this year, one policeman was killed and 15 were injured in a riot in Yunnan Province when villagers were protesting the environmental damage caused by a nearby coal mine. In 2009, female Chengguan Liu Ping had a bucket of manure poured over her by a woman who was resisting arrest. Netizens overwhelmingly supported the criminal, with one saying “what she poured was not manure, but justice.”

Now, Shenzhen’s traffic police department is facing a major controversy, after responding disproportionately to an attack. A man is recovering in Longhua People’s Hospital, Shenzhen, after being held down and beaten by traffic police, according to local television. The man, Wang Hongguang, was held down and kicked in the chest and head after making a drunken, foul-mouthed rant at traffic policemen. The policeman who allegedly beat Wang has been identified as Zhang Wenbin. The Longhua branch of the city’s Public Security Bureau has already released footage, that clearly shows Wang being beaten by the traffic policeman.

Wang was visited by journalists at Longhua People’s Hospital where he is in the third ward on bed 30. He was attached to breathing apparatus, and his face was covered in scars from the beating. A witnessed surnamed Xu told reporters that at 2 a.m. June 20, a Longhua resident named Mr Yang was stopped by traffic police on Renmin Road while driving under the influence. Fearing arrest, Yang called his wife, urging her to get someone to visit him at the police station. Wang was drinking at home when he heard that Yang was in trouble.

When the drunken Wang arrived at the Traffic Police Station, he began a foul-mouthed rant at traffic policeman Zhang. Zhang proceeded to cuff him, then held him to the ground before kicking and beating him, aided by several colleagues. One policeman even sat on Wang while three or four others kicked him. Around 8 a.m., Wang’s family heard he was in danger, so his brother-in-law Zou went down to the station. After much squabbling, Wang was finally taken to Longhua People’s Hospital around 12 p.m., ten hours after the initial beating. The following morning at 8 a.m., Wang was declared to be in a critical condition.

The suspect Zhang and an assistant traffic policeman brought flowers to visit Wang, but the family refused to allow them to see him. The head of the hospital ward in which Wang is recovering, Guo Donghui, said despite injuries to his head, brain, neck, chest and stomach, Wang’s condition is now stable.

Traffic police have claimed that Yang resisted arrest, and invited four friends to come to the station to defend him, thus police were primarily acting out of self defense. Wang was the most aggressive and was accused of headbutting a policeman.

The Public Security Bureau is conducting an investigation.

Tagged: BeatingChengguanDrink DrivingPolice ViolenceTraffic Police

Shenzhen man stabbed to death while 3 security guards stand and watch

Posted: 06/18/2012 7:00 am

The problem of Chinese people failing to help strangers in trouble has been a hot issue in China since last year’s Wang Yue incident in Fo Shan. Many people believe that China is far behind other countries when it comes to helping strangers, this was underlined when a Brazilian man was beaten in Dongguan after intervening in a mugging while security guards watched. An opinion piece in Shenzhen Daily last week put this down to the fact that Westerners come from “developed civil societies”. The issue reared its head again in Shenzhen last week.

A man in the city’s Bao’an District was killed when he was stabbed in the throat and later ignored by three security guards, according to local television. Security camera footage shows the man, surnamed Yu, being suddenly stabbed by a man wearing black on the evening of June 6, just after 7 p.m.

Yu was out for a walk with his girlfriend surnamed Tan, when Tan’s ex-boyfriend, surnamed Gong, approached them. Gong pulled a fruit knife from behind his back and stabbed Yu in the neck before fleeing. Gong was later arrested by police in Shekou Park.

The initial police investigation showed that as blood gushed from his neck, Yu stumbled toward the nearest security guard’s office at the entrance of Fugong Business Park on Shajing Road, where he was ignored. However a further investigation by a journalist, showed that not only did the three security guards refuse Yu’s request for help, they watched the entire incident unfold without lending so much as a hand.

Public intellectual Jie Wenjin angrily denounced the security guards’ inaction, calling for individuals to do their duty and make China a better society. Some netizens berated the apathy of the security guards. Another opined that security guards seldom do any good.

One netizen defended the men, arguing they could not intervene in their capacity as security guards because the incident took place outside of their jurisdiction, and they had no training in how to deal with such an extreme case. Another netizen pointed to the complicated relationship between morals and the law.

The investigation is ongoing.

Tagged: Bao'anEx-LoverFruit KnifeSecurity GuardsStabbing

Guy in a Guangzhou supermarket cutting random kids with a razor

Posted: 06/11/2012 8:00 am

In his novella, “Diary of a Madman,” Lu Xun explored the idea that China is a society in which the strong eat the weak. That was crystallized on Friday in Guangzhou, where three of the most vulnerable members of society all suffered an unprovoked attack.

Three babies who were being carried by their mothers in a supermarket had their feet sliced with a razor, according to Guangzhou Local Television. On Friday, a woman identified as Mizz Zhou went to the Jusco Supermarket in Guangzhou’s Dadaobei with her two-month old baby and nanny. The nanny carried the sleeping baby. After 20 minutes of wandering through the supermarket, Zhou noticed that her baby was in pain, looked down and saw it had a gash on its right foot.

Unaware of what had caused the bleeding, Zhou immediately went to the Nanfang Hospital which was opposite the supermarket. The doctor put a bandage on the wound and gave the child a tetanus jab. As Zhang was leaving, she noticed a woman with a three-month old baby boy who had exactly the same injury. She spoke to the woman and discovered that the baby had sustained its injuries at the same time and place. Zhou accompanied the woman back to the supermarket to look at the security camera footage.

The footage showed a man in his early 30s who was wearing flip-flops and dark blue trousers. As he drew near to Zhou’s baby, he pulled something out of his pocket that looked like a laser blade, slashed the foot and discreetly moved on. On Sunday Zhou took her baby back to the hospital where she was told that the baby’s injury was not serious but that ointment must be applied to the wound every day.

When the information was posted on Sina Weibo, a third mother, identified as Chen, saw it and realised the same thing had happened to her baby. She had assumed there had been an accident, but when speaking to the television station, recalled seeing the man turn around to look at her. Jusco said it has never experienced such a case before and will conduct an investigation.

There were a series of stabbings in kindergartens in early 2010 by loan psychopaths across the country.

Tagged: BabiesJuscoNanfang HospitalStabbingUnprovokedViolence

Another laowai Good Samaritan injured while trying to break up dispute in Shenzhen

Posted: 05/29/2012 7:00 am

The assault happened outside King Glory Plaza

The latest laowai Good Samaritan, sometimes known as Yang Lei Feng (foreign Lei Feng), has appeared and once again paid for his virtue.

The foreigner, who hails from the Netherlands and currently studies in Hong Kong, was up in Shenzhen doing some sightseeing when he saw a Chinese male, surnamed Wu, pulling the hair of a female near King Glory Plaza in Luohu District. The foreigner asked the man to stop hurting the woman, and when he refused, tried to intervene. That’s when the man slashed the foreigner across the chest and the arm with a knife.

Shenzhen Daily says Wu has been arrested for assault:

Investigations showed that Wu and his girlfriend, identified as Hu, were quarreling at Kingglory Plaza about a breakup and money issues. Hu, who was very agitated, had swallowed a handful of stomach medicine, causing Wu to grab Hu’s mouth and try to make her cough up the pills. When Hu didn’t cooperate, Wu slapped her, which made Hu angry. Hu pulled a small knife — used for artistic work — from her pocket and attempted to kill herself, according to police. Wu snatched the knife from Hu and pulled her hair, trying to take her to a hospital, police said.

The incident happened on May 2 and there’s been no update on the condition or name of the foreigner who got involved.

The man from the Netherlands is the second laowai this month who’s paid for breaking up a dispute in the PRD. Previously, a Brazilian man was beaten after trying to prevent a thief from stealing a woman’s handbag in Dongguan.