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Haohao

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.

Haohao
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