Chinese Parents Dish Out Some Vigilante Justice To Their Daughter’s Stalker, Beat Him And Tie Him To A Pole
Parents of a Chinese junior high school student got fed up with a pervert following and grabbing their daughter, and handed down some “extra-judicial” punishment by tying him to a pole and beating him half senseless, The Daily Star is reporting.
Parents of schoolgirl publicly humiliate man ‘who molested their daughter’ https://t.co/ZXSGB7eABu pic.twitter.com/L3loWaRvt4
— Daily Star (@Daily_Star) October 26, 2015
For some time now, the girl, whose name has not been released, has been putting up with a stalker following her home from school every day – tailing her through a mall and a residential neighborhood, while she had to almost run to get away from him. On several occasions, the man tried to grab her arm, but she was able to scream and run away.
When she finally got up the courage to tell her parents, they took action. They followed their daughter to and from school, and as expected, the stalker was there, waiting to follow the girl home. The parents accosted the man – identified only by his age, 50, and his surname, Xu – and proceeded to deliver a rather thorough beating. Then, they tied him to a lamppost in the middle of town, while the townspeople of Yuyao (in southeastern China) cheered them on, calling them “Super Parents.”
Police arrested the pervert, who allegedly said he wanted to “make [the girl] his daughter,” according to the LAD Bible, and the authorities are conducting an investigation.
In fact, being a female junior high school student carries its own set of dangers in parts of China. In July 2014, for example, Chinese media reported on the rapes of at least three middle school girls by drug-trafficking police. Neighbors of the school the girls attended said it’s not uncommon to see cars parked in front of the school, looking for young girls to try to lure. The police have been hesitant to move forward with the case, saying it’s “too difficult to investigate.”
Similarly, vigilante justice seems to be a new trend in China, according to a 2014 BBC News report. Armed with cell phones, security cameras, and a nationwide obsession with the internet, ordinary Chinese citizens have turned to campaigns of harassment and intimidation against people caught on video committing crimes or other unsavory acts. Accused animal abusers, thieves, and adulterers have been subject to internet-based vigilantism.
One of the earliest such cases involved a woman who was caught on camera crushing a kitten’s skull with the heel of her high-heeled shoe. Outraged internet users sussed out her identity from clues in the video and began a series of thousands of harassing and intimidating phone calls. At one point, she considered suicide, and she was fired from her job.
Not everyone caught up in the Chinese vigilante justice process is necessarily guilty. Taxi driver Yin Feng began receiving hundreds and then thousands of harassing phone calls per day. His cab’s license plate happened to share a few digits with the license plates of another cabbie seen spitting on an elderly man. An internet user posted Feng’s private information online.
“All of my private information was made public. My ID card number, name, phone number, address, even my mother-in-law’s phone number was dug out and posted online.”
The messages he received ranged from obscenity-laden invectives to threats of harm.
“Driver with the licence plate A36D62, you really humiliate all men. Please forward this post and let’s see what kind of ugly face he has. Let’s extinguish him. Die! Such a disgrace. We don’t even know where he’s from. Get out of [town]!”
As of this post, it’s unclear if the girl’s parents will face any criminal charges for beating and tying up their daughter’s stalker.
[Image via Shutterstock/deepblue]
