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Sensational Rape Case in China Has Women Fearful Nationwide

Posted: 08/28/2014 6:20 pm

jinan train station black cab rapistA 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).

rape warning infographic

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.

jinan train station black cab rapist

Police say Dai is at risk of offending again.

Related:

Photos: Shenzhen Financial Report, iFeng

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Police Open Fire On Hostage-Taker at Guangzhou Bus Terminal, One Dead

Posted: 06/28/2014 7:43 pm

guangzhou bus station hostage knife attackerA man has been shot dead while attempting to take a hostage at a busy provincial transportation hub in Guangzhou, reports the Pearl River Times.

At approximately 12:30 this afternoon, a 39 year-old man from Yunnan named Li tried to kidnap a woman with a knife at the Guangzhou Provincial Bus Terminal. According to the official account of what happened, Li refused when police ordered him to put down the knife, then tried to attack the police. Police opened fire, killing Li at the scene.

The hostage was rescued, and neither her nor anyone else is reported to be injured.guangzhou bus station hostage knife attackerguangzhou bus station hostage knife attackerguangzhou bus station hostage knife attackerguangzhou bus station hostage knife attackerguangzhou bus station hostage knife attacker

Photos: Shenzhen Official Account, Pearl River Times

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Shenzhen Woman in Emotional Reunion with Mother 25 Years After Abduction

Posted: 05/21/2014 6:13 pm

shenzhen kidnapping human trafficking child Back on January 12, 1989 in Rui’an, Zhejiang, four year-old Li Ruru was stolen away from her own family. Yesterday, over 25 years later, a long journey for a Shenzhen woman named Weng finally came to an end when she met finally met the birth mother she had never known.

Li Ruru was sold to the Weng family that lived in Putian, Fujian, and became their daughter. The family had wanted a daughter to complement the two boys in the family. At eight or nine, Weng was told she was adopted, but it wasn’t until she reached 30 that she decided to look for her birth family.

shenzhen kidnapping human trafficking childThen, on May 9 of this year, a positive match was made in a national DNA database for missing and abducted children. It was confirmed that she was the missing daughter of parents Li Mianquan and Cai Juanjuan, born in April, 1984, and their only child.

At 1:20pm yesterday at Shenzhen Bao’an Airport and with dozens of spectators looking on, Mrs Cai and Weng met, grabbed each others’ waists, hugged, and wiped away the tears. The first thing Mrs Cai said to Weng was,

Child, is it really you?

shenzhen kidnapping human trafficking childMrs Cai had brought along her most valuable possession after the kidnapping. For 25 years, Mrs Cai treasured the few and simple photographs that she still possessed of her young daughter. Yellowed with age and protected in laminate, Mrs Cai said that these photographs are what helped her remember her stolen child during all these years.

But now what? We’re reminded of this by the highest-rated comment on the Sohu news report with 4582 upvotes:

浮生如梦1260在搜狐:
Reuniting with one’s own family is worth celebrating. But I hope you won’t forget about your adoptive family. They took you from the traffickers and brought you home to raise ever since you were four years old. Raising and making you part of the family is not easy.

Mrs Cai knows this. While it was the illegal act of human trafficking that landed Li Ruru into the Weng family, 30 year-old Weng is not her daughter by law. As Mrs Cai said herself, she would respect whatever decision Weng may make regarding her choice to take care of either her adoptive or natural parents in their old age.

We’re happy to see mother and child reunited again, and as we said, a bold move.

shenzhen kidnapping human trafficking childPhotos: Guangzhou Police via Weibo, Sohu

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Zhongshan Girl with Mental Disability Repeatedly Sold as Bride Before Being Abandoned

Posted: 04/28/2014 3:38 pm

Child abduction in China is such a common occurrence in China that it’s not even called “child abduction”. And yet that’s what happened to mentally-handicapped 14 year-old Ah Huan: kidnapped off the streets of Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, Ah Huan was repeatedly sold as a child bride before being abandoned for being “worthless”.

Ah Huan faced tragedy early in her childhood when she was given a strong tranquilizer at an early age that debilitated her cognition and memory. On August 30, 2010, Ah Huan’s mother beat her because she suspected Ah Huan of stealing money from her sister. Upset, Ah Huan left her Yinwan North Street apartment in Qiwan Village, and never returned.

It was only three years later on March 14, 2013 that Ah Huan’s fate was discovered when Duan Yumin confessed to police.

Duan Yumin was driving his three-wheeled vehicle on Yinwan North Street when he saw Ah Huan. The worst possible excuse to be inferred as a compliment, Duan thought the mentally-challenged 14 year-old girl to be pretty. Duan decided she would be a good wife for his son, Duan X* Zheng, and took Ah Huan aboard his vehicle and back to his Wanxin Plaza apartment.

In turn, Duan’s son brought Ah Huan back to his hometown in Henan Province. After two months, however, the son didn’t think that his fourteen year-old bride was capable of having children, and so gave her back to his father Duan Yumin.

Ever the opportunist, Duan thought that if Ah Huan wasn’t a suitable wife for his son, then his investment could find a proper home when put on the market. In November 2011, Duan offered to sell Ah Huan to Wang Shuai. Duan started with an opening offer of 18,000 yuan, but settled on Wang’s counter-offer of 12,000 yuan. Wang then took Ah Huan back to his Henan hometown where he sold her to his second uncle Kang X Chan for 15,000 yuan.

Unfortunately at this point, Ah Huan’s story was drawing to a close.

Three months after he had bought her, Kang was displeased with his new wife. Kang had complained to Wang that Ah Huan was misbehaving; because she had tried to start a fire, Kang wanted to exchange her. Ten days later, Kang was told that Ah Huan was abandoned in Xinyang city, Henan.

Ah Huan’s current whereabouts are unknown. She would now be 18 years old.

For this crime, three people were found guilty of kidnapping and human trafficking. Duan Yumin was sentenced to six years in jail and given a 10,000 yuan fine. Li Fazhen, Duan’s unmarried common-law partner, was sentenced to eighteen months in jail and given a 4,000 yuan fine. Wang Shuai was sentenced for five years and six months and given a 8,000 yuan fine.

Both husbands of Ah Huan, Duan X Zheng and Kang X Chan, were not named as part of this court case.

* “X”, when used in names, refers to information not released by the media/officials.

Photo: 0760114

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Shenzhen Thief Steals Car With Baby in Backseat, Parents Clinging to Vehicle

Posted: 04/22/2014 11:41 am

shenzhen carjacking kidnapping child backseat

A brazen attempt to steal a car in Shenzhen has resulted in the fantastic spectacle of two people hanging on for dear life to a speeding car making its getaway, dragging them behind it, reports the Nandu. But as with all such terrible transgressions, we should try to remember the real victims of the crime.

On the evening of April 19, Mr Pan was out celebrating with his family at a restaurant located on Minfeng Road in the Longhua District of Shenzhen. As Pan left the driver’s seat to grab his bag from the trunk of the car, his wife Li exited the front passenger seat to walk around to the driver’s side.

Before Li could get in, a man suddenly jumped into the driver’s seat and started to drive away. Especially alarmed as the car was still occupied by their two and-a-half year old child and its grandmother sitting in the back seat, the parents were determined not to allow their single-most treasured commodity to be kidnapped. Said Li afterwards, “If it wasn’t for the child, we wouldn’t have risked everything [to get him back].“

And so with the steely grip that only a tiger mother can possess, Li held on to the car with fierce claws of tenacity; Li gripped onto the steering wheel from outside the car window. Meanwhile, her husband Pan tried to hang onto the car from the rear passenger window.

Only after dragging the parents 100 meters did the carjacker finally succeed in shaking off the parents by driving into a guardrail. However, in his attempt to escape, the carjacker rear-ended a car waiting for a red light. Picking themselves up and hurrying over to the collision, the parents wrenched open the car door, hauled out the carjacker, and were given most brazen reply to a carjacking you can imagine:

“The two of you are trying to steal my car.”

The parents were able to recover their most prized possession and were reunited with the grandmother, but were injured in the process. Pan’s suffered many scratches to his knees and right arm, and Li suffered a concussion to her head.

This sounds like a nightmare for Pan’s family, especially considering it occurred on Pan’s own birthday. However, we should try to sympathize with the real victim here—the carjacker himself, 30 year-old Zheng from Yongzhou, Hunan Province.

On the night of the incident, Zheng had just left his friend’s house and was feeling suicidal after drinking two bottles of beer. It was at that time when Zheng made the decision to steal the victims’ car.

As they await the results of a blood alcohol test stemming from the consumed two bottles of beer, police gave a statement to Nandu that seems to treat Zheng as a victim of circumstance:

Investigating police explained that Zheng simply did not know that there was a child and elderly person sitting in the back seat when he got in, and that he doesn’t have a driver’s license nor knows how to drive.

Oh, so that’s why I’m not feeling outrage at this heinous crime. Zheng happened to have lost his job and his wife last year, and is a sad circumstance that surely must be a gateway to commit felonies after having imbibed a pair of China’s piss-poor beers.

While we sympathize with Zheng’s sad plight, it seems the crime of carjacking a vehicle with a baby in the backseat isn’t taken that seriously even though a similar case last year resulted in the death of a kidnapped baby.

Photo: Nandu

 

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Guangdong man, who has been terrorizing Chinese nationals in Venezuela, is captured

Posted: 02/16/2013 10:46 am

The reign of terror brought upon Chinese nationals in Venezuela may soon be over.

A Guangdong man, who is thought to be the king in a major crime ring operating in the South American country, has arrived back in his home province after being captured, deported and sent back to China in cuffs.

Xi Mouwei, 26, is suspected of heading a 10-strong criminal gang using kidnappings, robberies and extortion to terrorize Chinese expats, often demanding $100,000 in ransoms.

According to the BBC:

He is reported to have gone to Venezuela at the age of 16 and turned to crime when his business struggled.

It’s believed the gang had been active for about a year.

With the help of the Venezuelan authorities, Xi was snared earlier this month and eventually brought back to join two other alleged accomplices arrested in the province.

A special nine-member task force was sent to Venezuela to investigate crimes being committed after the Chinese embassy contacted Beijing about “dozens of cases” involving their citizens.

The Washington Post adds:

China is keen to be seen as being capable of protecting its citizens abroad and punishing those who commit violent crimes overseas.

Guangdong police are leading further investigations into this case.

Picture: Keith Allison/Flickr

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Migrant in GZ fails to win the affection of his girlfriend’s parents, takes her hostage

Posted: 07/25/2012 11:00 am

Most of us have probably done stupid things in the name of puppy love. But one 20-year-old man in Guangzhou has raised the stakes significantly.

The man, Xiao Cao, is facing jail time after he tried to cheat his girlfriend’s parents out of RMB25,000 by threatening to “sell her”, according to The Nanfang Daily.

Two weeks after having a meeting of the minds online, Xiao Cao met up with Xiao Zhi and they immediately fell in love.

However, Xiao Cao, a migrant worker without even a middle school education, was unable to win over the parents and they did not allow their daughter to date him.

Subsequently, Xiao Cao camped outside the family’s home, begging the parents to accept him. A week later, the parents yielded. They said they would allow him to date their daughter…on condition he pay them RMB42,000, an unimaginable sum for the young man.

Xiao Cao was too proud to beg for the money, so he hatched another plan. When he saw Xiao Zhi leaving her home, he followed her to Xinshi where they had an argument. During the argument Xiao Cao dropped his phone on the ground and broke the speaker. Xiao Zhi said she would help him fix it.

Xiao Cao said that was not necessary but asked her if he could share her’s. He then asked if she would accompany him to Huadu District to see his cousin. They then went on a four day trip during which, unbeknownst to the girl, Xiao Cao was using Xiao Zhi’s phone to text message her parents, saying: “Your daughter owes me RMB25,000, if the money isn’t returned I will sell her to a human trafficker in another city.”

Over the next four days, Xiao Cao was using the girl’s phone to haggle with the parents. During this time, Xiao Zhi had no idea she was a “hostage.”

Xiao Cao has now been detained and the case is under investigation.

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Zhongshan crooks kidnap and extort local merchant while impersonating police officers

Posted: 05/18/2012 7:00 am

Being kidnapped and extorted a few million RMB would be considered an incredibly bad day by anyone’s standards. According to the Southern Metropolis Daily however, in a truly bizarre series of events, a Zhongshan man was extorted not once but twice by the same man.

In October of 2006, clothing merchant Tan Mouxiong’s business was losing money, and he found himself in the unfortunate position of having to borrow from a loan shark. When Tan was unable to repay the debt, he decided to kidnap a wealthy member of his own clan, identified as Tanmou, for the purposes of extortion. Yet rather than covertly grab the fellow clan member, Tan and his accomplice, Xiaomou, conceived of something much more elaborate: impersonate police officers.

In January 2007, after months of tracking Tanmou’s whereabouts, Tan and Xiaomou purchased police uniforms, handcuffs, batons, and even a car disguised as an official police vehicle. They then set out one evening and stopped Tanmou on the street, demanding that he get into the car. When the man resisted, Tan and Xiaomou tried to physically restrain him. It was at this time that two patrolling security guards who witnessed the event got involved; however, the guards didn’t assist Tanmou. Assuming the two men impersonating police officers were legitimate, the guards helped handcuff the victim, and put him into the back of the “police car”.

Once kidnapped, the two men drove Tanmou all the way to Tan’s girlfriend’s apartment in Huangpu District, Guangzhou. There they robbed the man of  20,000RMB, before calling his wife and demanding 3,000,000 more for his release. While Tanmou’s wife agreed to pay the sum, she also alerted police. Thankfully, the police were able to rescue the man, and capture Xiamou but Tan escaped with the money.

Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end there. Only a few months later, Tan once again contacted Tanmou, demanding more money. Fearing for his safety, Tanmou sent Tan another 50,000RMB. Eventually however, guilt got the better of Tan and after almost six years, he turned himself into police this past January. He was arraigned earlier this week in the Zhongshan People’s Court, where he pled guilty to extortion and kidnapping. He has since returned much of the extorted funds and has asked the court for leniency: “I am sorry to the victims and their families” he said. No word yet on sentencing.

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