There has been shock across China after a video emerged of a man beating his wife to death in public in broad daylight. The shock has not only surrounded the horrific act itself, but the fact that no passer-by stepped in to stop the vicious attack.
The incident happened after a small traffic accident in which the car the man and his wife were in bumped into another car. The man wished to get out of the car to confront the other driver but was stopped by his wife.
This act enraged him, and the deadly beating began.
He can be seen on the sidewalk beating the woman, who is pleading for help, over the head with a chair with a large amount of force. Onlookers, all of whom are men, casually watch the man committing the murder and do nothing to stop him. The man is not armed with any other weapon and it is thought that even one or two people stepping in would have saved the woman's life.
Shanxi, yesterday - at least 4 people stand around as this man beats his wife. Nobody steps in to stop this 'marital conflict.' This is how it starts, but it ends up with the woman being stabbed & killed by her husband.
— Manya Koetse (@manyapan) November 1, 2020
Many people looked on and filmed, yet nobody stopped him. pic.twitter.com/mzYRfJ6e2l
Police released a statement saying:
"The suspect is in the custody of public security organs, and the case is being fully investigated."
The video also gained huge number of comments online, with people outraged by the man and the cowardice and inaction of the onlookers. One said:
"He's not holding a machine gun, why did no one step forward to control him?"
Domestic abuse is thought to be common-place in China and the All-China Women's Federation said that 1 in 4 women experience abuse within their marriages. Despite being a country of over 1 billion people, there are only 40,000 to 50,000 official cases documented each year. This means that authorities are not paying enough attention or that victims are too scared to come forward, fearing that they won't be believed or that they will face repercussions for reporting their partners.
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