Probe into teen's crime resumes

Updated: 2012-02-28 20:30

(Xinhua)

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HEFEI - Chinese police have promised to continue an investigation into an assault on a teenage girl after the victim's mother posted a desperate plea for help on the Internet, sparking public outcry for authorities to check teen violence.

Authorities said the suspect, a 17-year-old boy surnamed Tao, has been detained since last September in the central city of Hefei, Anhui province, for allegedly setting fire to a girl, surnamed Zhou, who turned him down.

Probe into teen's crime resumes

Combination photos show Zhou before and after she was disfigured in an attack.  [File photo/qq.com]

Police had previously claimed they could not proceed with the investigation because the victim's hospitalization had postponed forensic testing.

The case prompted public outcry after the victim's mother went online last week to call for help, describing the gruesome details of the assault and posting photos of her daughter's bandage-wrapped face.

A hospital diagnosis indicated that about 32 percent of the girl's body had been burned. Xinhua reporters saw Zhou's left ear mutilated, most of her face disfigured, and severe burns on her head, neck, hands and legs.

"Now she can only lie in bed every day. She is in pain all the time," Zhou's mother wrote.

Tao and Zhou both studied in a middle school in Hefei. Zhou had been rejecting Tao's advances, and her parents even put her on sick leave for a year and arranged for her to transfer schools in order to avoid the boy.

Frustrated and angry, Tao, the son of a low-level functionary couple, went to Zhou's home last September, poured gasoline on her face and ignited it with a lighter. Zhou's aunt heard screams and came to the girl's rescue, putting the fire out and rushing Zhou to hospital. Tao was arrested the following day.

Zhou's mother said in the online note that the family had been struggling to pay for the costly treatments and she hoped the case could be processed faster so the family could soon get compensation to cover the treatments.

"The case has been shelved for about five months. There should be no more delays," Internet user "Li Zimo" wrote on the popular microblogging service Sina Weibo.

Local police said they were only allowed to conduct forensic tests on Zhou last Friday, after she was discharged from the intensive care unit. The results of the forensic tests will help prosecutors determine charges.

China's criminal code stipulates that a person can get up to 10 years in prison for intentional assault. Minors between 14 and 18 years old can not be acquitted for the crime.

Netizens brought Tao's parenting and that of children from privileged families at large into question.

"Tao was utterly cruel. It is the father's fault for the son's misconduct like this," another microblogger wrote.

Tao's father tweeted a public apology, saying he was sorry for the parenting failures that resulted in "irreversible harms" to Zhou and endless sorrows to her family.

"Such a tragedy should not have happened. The futures of both kids are ruined," the father wrote in a microblog post. "Tao looks like a grown-up, but he is still immature and can not properly handle his emotions."

"I will not shun away from legal responsibility," he said.

Although taboo in the past, teen love has crept back into the public arena in China in recent years. Teenagers have become bolder in showing their feelings and have sometimes gone to extremes to show their emotions.

A 14-year-old student recently stabbed and drowned a female neighbor in Anhui, Anhui Commercial News, a local paper, reported Tuesday.

Last week, two elementary school students in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region were suspected of sexually assaulting a girl in school, according to local media.

"Juvenile crimes are on the rise in China," Kong Weizhao, a lawyer specializing in juvenile cases, said, adding that the trend is linked to delinquent parents, exposure to sexual and violent content on TV and computer games, and inadequate ethical and moral education in schools.

Liu Lijun, a warden of the Anhui provincial juvenile delinquency correction facility, said some kids have told him they felt like they were in a computer game when they stabbed people with knives.

"Legal education in schools also lags behind. Many children don't know the legal age for criminal responsibilities," he said.