Chinese autistic girl ‘chained to a shack for five years’
Impoverished family from northern China fear she would run away if not restrained, according to newspaper report
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 18 June, 2015, 2:50pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 18 June, 2015, 2:50pm
Kathy Gao [email protected]
The girl has tried to run away from home several times, according to the newspaper report. Photo: Xwh.cn
An autistic girl from northeastern China has been chained by her parents to a corn storage shack for five years to stop her from running away, according to a local newspaper.
Neighbours said the girl, aged 16, often ran naked through the village in Jilin province before she was restrained, the Xinwen Hua newspaper reported.
Her father, who was only identified by his surname Zhu, said he was worried she would disappear if she was not tied up as she had run away from home before.
He added that the family, who live in a village near Huadian, was too poor to pay for the treatment and care she needed and that his daughter had been diagnosed as autistic.
“The forests in the mountains are very big and we couldn’t find her if she runs away,” he was quoted as saying.
“A couple of times before, we only found her when our neighbours heard her in the forest and in the cornfields.”
The girl’s mother said her daughter had also fallen when she was three, which may have damaged her brain.
A doctor from a mental health hospital was quoted as saying that it was highly unlikely she could be cured.
The report did not say if the girl would remain chained to the shack.
