3 months ago
21
Lao Chunxue, a 28-year-old woman from Inner Mongolia, China, met her husband, Xie, through a relative's introduction in 2022. Despite Xie's gaming obsession causing frequent arguments, Lao accepted his marriage proposal due to his caring nature. The couple moved to
Henan province
after their wedding to find work, but both struggled to secure employment.
As Xie's gaming habit worsened, he began demanding money from Lao to support his addiction, according to South China Morning Post. On March 19, 2023, when Lao explained that she had no money left, Xie became enraged and physically assaulted her. "He punched me, then hit me with a frying pan," Lao recounted.
Shockingly, during the assault, Xie's mother, who was on a video call, encouraged his violent behaviour, saying, "If she does not give you money, beat her to death." The attack only ended when Lao's cousin intervened, finding Xie strangling his wife with pyjama bottoms.
Lao was immediately taken to the hospital, where she spent three months in a coma in the ICU. Upon waking up, she discovered that she had permanently lost her sight due to optic atrophy caused by intracranial bleeding. She also suffered other severe injuries that left her unable to care for herself. Her parents, who rushed to her side from Inner Mongolia, expressed their heartbreak, saying, "Seeing our daughter like this felt like a knife cutting our hearts."
Despite spending hundreds of thousands of yuan on medical treatments and even mortgaging their home, Lao's family learned that the damage to her optic nerves was irreversible.
When Lao tried to reclaim her assets to fund her rehabilitation, she discovered that Xie had secretly transferred her car to his mother's name. Xie's wealthy family only contributed 36,000 yuan (US$5000) to her medical expenses after police intervention, which Lao's mother believes was an attempt to reduce his sentence.
On August 30, the People's Court of Zhongyuan District in Zhengzhou sentenced Xie to 11 years in prison for intentional homicide and ordered him to pay Lao 657,000 yuan (US$93,000) in compensation.
Lao's parents are currently appealing the decision, seeking a life sentence for Xie.
The case has sparked widespread outrage online, with many people condemning Xie's actions and questioning the leniency of his sentence. Some have emphasised the importance of couples taking time to truly understand each other before marriage, while others have stressed that such violent acts should not be downplayed as mere "
domestic violence
" but treated as serious crimes.
