Woman to be jailed for fabricating son's disappearance

A court in Yueqing city of Zhejiang province sentenced a woman surnamed Chen to one year and three months in prison on Monday for fabricating and spreading false information after she hid her son and reported him missing to the police. 

According to local prosecutors, Chen was having a bad relationship with her husband who was doing business in other cities, so she deliberately created this false alarm to test her husband. Thus, she was prosecuted for fabricating and intentionally spreading false information.

Chen stood at the public hearing on Monday morning at the Yueqing people's court. During the hearing, she said that her husband had an affair which caused many quarrels between them. She initially wanted to upset him by hiding her son, but she did not expect it would turn out so serious.

Chen's counsel said there were many reasons for Chen's behavior. Several incidents had affected her emotions and triggered her to commit the offense. These included her husband committing adultery for a long time, her daughter losing more than 6,000 yuan ($890) before the incident and her son squandering money on a smartphone.

The prosecutors believed Chen's behavior had seriously disrupted public order. The police dispatched more than 600 people, as well as rescue boats and dogs, to look for the child. Many volunteers and public welfare organizations also participated in the search. The incident also made headlines and was viewed 210 million times on Chinese social media.

The judge made the ruling in court and sentenced Chen to one year and three months in jail.

On Nov 30, Chen called the police to report that her 11-year-old son, surnamed Huang, had gone missing after school. The police then started an investigation immediately.

The father, believing his son was missing, also posted on social media writing that he would offer a 500,000 yuan reward to the person who could find the boy.

Police found the boy four days later and also discovered that the chaos was created by his mother. Chen had picked up her son after school and asked him to hide in a car that she had prepared beforehand with food.

Chen was detained by police afterward and said in a statement that the woman's behavior betrayed the faith of the society, wasted resources and disturbed social order.

China's Criminal Law stipulates that suspects who intentionally spread fake information on the internet or other media and seriously disturb public order could face imprisonment of up to three years.