Shock in China after car thief strangles baby
A Chinese man who allegedly strangled an infant after stealing a car with the child inside has handed himself in to police in the north-eastern province of Jilin in a case that has shocked the nation.
Zhou handed himself in to police
on Tuesday and made a full confession Photo: Rex
Features
Zhou Xijun, 48, has confessed to stealing an SUV in Changchun city on Monday,
which had been left with the engine running and the doors unlocked. The father,
Xu Jialin, had wanted to keep the baby warm whilst he ran into the shop where he
worked, according to the South China Morning Post.
According to a police statement, Zhou “discovered a baby in the back seat of
the stolen car, stopped at the side of the road before strangling the baby to
death and burying it in the snow.”
Changchun police said they had sent the entire force, more than 3,500
officers, on a manhunt for the suspect and the missing baby. Local media
reported that thousands of residents and taxi drivers joined in the search after
hearing the news.
Police found the car abandoned near a school 40 kilometres outside the city
but with no sign of the child.
The baby’s father told Xinhua: “Early Wednesday morning, my wife and I
identified the body of our son.”
Chinese media have reported that the baby’s mother had to receive treatment in hospital after learning of the death of her son, with at least one report claiming she suffered a heart attack.
Zhou handed himself in to police on Tuesday and made a full confession, although witnesses have claimed that the man they saw was much younger, leading to rumours that Zhou is covering for someone else.
The case has sparked considerable outrage online in China, which had a murder rate of 1.0 per 100,000 people in 2010, according to the United Nations, among the lowest in the world.
Wang, a taxi driver who joined the hunt for the baby, told China News: “I cried when I heard about the killing on the radio.”
“I would never have imagined that what people most feared would actually happen... the killer should be severely punished," wrote one user of Sina Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter.
“Killing him would not be enough,” said another.
Users of the site also posted photos of candle-lit vigils being held in Changchun on Tuesday.
A fierce debate has begun in China on whether the parents should be punished for negligence.
"What happens when you take away the child from negligent parents in China?” one user commented. “Do we have foster homes to send them to like in the US? Or do you want to fine the parents who are often poverty-stricken?”
“Defending [such parents] is akin to murdering more babies,” argued another.
Further anger was triggered after photos of a list of government guidelines for media coverage of the case emerged on Weibo.
The list, which was swiftly deleted, called for the media to avoid criticism of the police or sky-net, the city’s surveillance grid, whilst limiting reports to no more than half a page of a newspaper.
“Isn’t this like murdering the baby for a second time?” asked several users.
Chinese media have reported that the baby’s mother had to receive treatment in hospital after learning of the death of her son, with at least one report claiming she suffered a heart attack.
Zhou handed himself in to police on Tuesday and made a full confession, although witnesses have claimed that the man they saw was much younger, leading to rumours that Zhou is covering for someone else.
The case has sparked considerable outrage online in China, which had a murder rate of 1.0 per 100,000 people in 2010, according to the United Nations, among the lowest in the world.
Wang, a taxi driver who joined the hunt for the baby, told China News: “I cried when I heard about the killing on the radio.”
“I would never have imagined that what people most feared would actually happen... the killer should be severely punished," wrote one user of Sina Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter.
“Killing him would not be enough,” said another.
Users of the site also posted photos of candle-lit vigils being held in Changchun on Tuesday.
A fierce debate has begun in China on whether the parents should be punished for negligence.
"What happens when you take away the child from negligent parents in China?” one user commented. “Do we have foster homes to send them to like in the US? Or do you want to fine the parents who are often poverty-stricken?”
“Defending [such parents] is akin to murdering more babies,” argued another.
Further anger was triggered after photos of a list of government guidelines for media coverage of the case emerged on Weibo.
The list, which was swiftly deleted, called for the media to avoid criticism of the police or sky-net, the city’s surveillance grid, whilst limiting reports to no more than half a page of a newspaper.
“Isn’t this like murdering the baby for a second time?” asked several users.
No comments:
Post a Comment