Hubei boy, 6, gets ears hacked off by aunt amid family dispute
Chilling photo and accounts of the recent attack on toddler draws anger and indignation from Chinese social media
PUBLISHED : Friday, 07 February, 2014, 3:01pm
UPDATED : Friday, 07 February, 2014, 3:03pm
Amy Li [email protected]
A photo of the six-year-old showing gory injuries he suffered has gone viral on social media. Photo: screenshot via Weibo
A six-year-old boy in a rural village in China's central Hubei province was brutally attacked by an aunt who cut off both his ears and slashed part of his jaw after she was enraged by a family dispute, Wuhan-based Chutian Metropolis Daily reported.
The attack, which happened on Janurary 28, sent chills down the spine of many Chinese readers, coming just six months after another mainland toddler, nicknamed Bin Bin, had his eyes gouged out by his crazed aunt.
The Southern Metropolis Daily reported on Friday that the suspect, identified as 35-year-old Zhang Qihui, was arrested.
The victim's father, whose name was not disclosed, told Chinese media he had refused to lend money to his younger brother -- Zhang's husband -- who wanted to build a house. It was not confirmed if this was what triggered the attack.
Zhang lured the boy away from his parents and then attacked him with a kitchen knife, according to Chinese media reports.
A photo of the six-year-old, with gaping injuries and blood on his face, went viral on social media, drawing thousands of comments and reposts.
"How could someone have done this to a little boy who had nothing to do with adults' dispute?" netizens wrote.
Doctors treating the six-year-old were only able to reattach one ear, as they found the other one inoperable.
Other netizens, incensed by the latest news, demanded that the suspect be prosecuted immediately.
Many Chinese netizens compared the case to that of Bin Bin, another six-year-old boy whose eyes were gouged out in a horrific attack in August in a rural village in Shanxi province. The boy, whose case elicited sympathy and donations from China and abroad, later received impants at a Shenzhen hospital, and with it a second chance for a normal life.
