Teenage arsonist's revenge on aunts

A 17-YEAR-OLD boy who started four fires to take revenge on his aunts for beating him was sentenced to one year in prison yesterday. Judges of the Putuo District People's Court learned that the boy, identified as Dong, had psychological problems and appointed mental health experts to offer counseling in a bid to stop him reoffending. The court heard Dong had a difficult life. His parents divorced when he was seven years old and he traveled with his father to Shanghai where they made a living picking through garbage. When Dong was 14, his father fell from his moped after suffering an epileptic attack and died. Dong returned to his hometown in Jiangsu Province to live with his 80-year-old grandmother but got into trouble, leading to a 10-month prison sentence. His grandmother asked three aunts, who lived in Shanghai, to take care of him. However, Dong was frequently scolded and beaten by his aunts over his behavior. Seeking revenge, Dong decided to start fires, reckoning once it was discovered he was responsible, residents would demand compensation from his aunts, the court heard. He went to a nearby village in Loutang Town, Jiading District, on November 3, 2010, and set fire to straw and screen windows. Dong shouted a warning, then stood by as residents tackled the flames. When he started three other fires the same week, villagers became suspicious and alerted police. Dong admitted to being the arsonist. "He became bad-tempered after his father died and sometimes we had to beat him," an aunt told the court. The Shanghai Mental Health Center said Dong had psychological problems. Judges appointed experts to offer the teenager treatment.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

40,000 hairy crabs released in Yangtze

Image
THE city government yesterday freed 40,000 hairy crabs into the mouth of Yangtze River near the Qingcaosha Reservoir, the first step in a five-year campaign to repair the ecosystem to improve the water quality in the reservoir that provides tap water for millions of residents. The hairy crabs will help establish a complete food chain in the river to help more fish and other aquatic animals survive in the river, Zhuang Ping, deputy director of the East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, told Shanghai Daily yesterday. The released crabs, about half female and half male, will eat plankton while some of their offspring will become food for meat-eating fish higher in the food chain, said Zhuang, who is leading the water-improvement program. "The better ecosystem the water has, the better its water quality will be," he said. With a capacity of 438 million cubic meters, the reservoir is providing tap water to about 10 million
Keep reading

Shanghai port consolidates its position as world's busiest

Image
SHANGHAI, the world's busiest container port, will consolidate its title this year and leverage its record throughput to become a multi-faceted provider of port services. The city, which overtook Singapore as the world's biggest container handler last year, saw its annual container traffic volume surpass 30 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) yesterday. The figure hits an unprecedented level in the world's port history and marks a new leg in Shanghai's voyage to become a global shipping center by 2020. China's remarkable trade boom is reflected in the Shanghai port numbers, which went from 7,951 TEUs in 1978 to 29.05 million TEUs in 2010. The city's customs oversaw a total of US$790 billion worth of imports and exports in the first three quarters of this year - a 19.3 percent year-on-year increase. And its port handled 23.9 million TEUs over the first 10 months, ahead of that of 23.56 million TEUs at Singapore Port. Shanghai International Port (Group) Co,
Keep reading

Praise, scorn for teacher's odd command

Image
A middle school math teacher has stirred controversy after forcing 20 of his students to slap their own faces for three minutes because they made noise in class and scored poorly on exams. Angry local residents are demanding that the teacher resign and asking the school to announce a punishment. But some of the teacher's students, including some who were forced to slap themselves, are calling for leniency. The incident occurred in a class at Donglu Middle School in Pudong on Tuesday when the math teacher surnamed Yang ordered 20 students in his class to slap their faces after he was irritated by them making noise in class. The students said Yang was known as a very strict teacher, so almost all the students obeyed his order and started slapping themselves in the face for about three minutes. Those who slapped too lightly were told by the teacher to slap harder, students told the Oriental Morning Post. Yang's behavior has sparked anger among local residents, especially so
Keep reading