A sensational case in which a university student was kidnapped and repeatedly raped for four days by the driver of an unlicensed pedicab in Jinan has prompted media to warn Chinese women to be careful. The case has also galvanized the country, making headlines nationwide.

The victim, a 22 year-old university student named Jin, arrived at the Jinan Railway Station on August 21 at around 7pm. She needed to take another train at Xike Station, and had to find a way to get there quickly. A 52 year-old man approached her and offered to give her a ride in his three-wheeled pedicab.

The driver, a 52 year-old man surnamed Dai, did not know how to get to Xike Station and ended up driving around in circles. Jin missed her train as a result, and asked to be taken back to the original train station. That’s when things escalated. Dai threatened to strangle Jin to death, and raped her in the three-wheeled cab. Dai then took Jin back to his residence where he beat her severely.

Three days later, on August 25, the Public Security Bureau of Central Jinan received a report from a Beijing resident named Sun who said his friend had been kidnapped. Jin had used Dai’s phone to send a text message to Sun saying she was being held in a place called “Longzhuang”. A police investigation later found both the suspect and the victim together on the second floor of a taxi company in Shuanglongzhuang.

Deputy captain of the Qixian police sub-station Liu Xiaoyi described the crime:

For approximately four days, Jin was bound, gagged, beaten, terrified, and raped. As well, sex drugs and sex toys were used to sexually violate Miss Jin.

Officer Wang Lushan was one of the first officers to arrive on the scene:

When we found her, she had already lost the ability to request help from us. Her eyes had a lifeless look to them, and she was not responsive. The woman’s right eye had already swollen black … She had suffered broken bones and scars from being beaten. It was a heart-breaking sight.

Jin was taken to hospital, and Dai was taken into police custody.

In light of this incident, police are warning women to stay vigilant and stay away from unlicensed “black cabs” or pedicabs. The advice is similar to instructions not to “trust anyone” previously given to female university students by a retired police officer. In the wake of the incident, infographics and tips have been published on Weibo to urge women to be more responsible in “staying vigilant” (below).

It has since been revealed that the suspect in this case, Dai, is a four-time repeat offender who has previously committed crimes of rape and confinement and personally admits to being a sexual deviant for whom “all hope is lost”.

Dai is originally from Fushun, Liaoning Province, and arrived in Jinan in 2003. He has never been married, but has lived with three different women. Dai was first arrested as a juvenile for stealing, and then was convicted of rape in 1983 and sentenced to ten years in prison. Dai was sent to jail for kidnapping a woman in 2010, and for indecent assault in 2012. In 2013, Dai was set free.

In an interview with a reporter, Dai explains he is not sorry for the victim because he himself is a victim. Furthermore, Dai says he was framed for the 1983 rape conviction. Asked if this was an injustice, Dai said:

Yes. Things were very strict in 1983. Back then, I had a non-sexual relationship with (the victim). Because she didn’t go home for two, three days, her family beat and cursed her, and said she was without shame. In order to save herself so that she could regain her face, she said that I forced her (to have sex). For this reason, I was convicted of rape and sentenced to ten years in prison, and exiled to the north-west. Think of it, ten years: from the time I was 20 until I was 30, I had lost all my friends, my family, everything and anything I had was lost. Even after I was released and had my own child, I still didn’t understand the meaning of responsibility, feeling, love… these are things that I don’t know. I’m never going to get these things, so that’s why I have abandoned any hope for me.

Police say Dai is at risk of offending again.

Related:

• Chinese Police Advise Female University Students: “Don’t Trust Anyone”

Photos: Shenzhen Financial Report, iFeng