Three deaf and mute defendants convicted of running Beijing begging gang
Three deaf and mute defendants were convicted yesterday of forcing a group of young disabled people in their 20s – who were also deaf and mute – to beg on the streets of Beijing, the Beijing Times reported.
Three deaf and mute defendants were convicted yesterday of forcing a group of young disabled people in their 20s – who were also deaf and mute – to beg on the streets of Beijing, the Beijing Times reported.
One of the defendants, Zhang Zhiguo, had been threatening at least four deaf and mute men to beg for donations since August 2011.
Zhang claimed that he collected 1,000-2,000 yuan (HK$1,260-2,520) from the four men every two to three days. He gave them just 20-30 yuan a day to live on.
He then handed over money to Yu Dongdong, 30, who in turn paid Wang Zhigang, 33.
“Yu has a bad temper, when we turned in less, we would be punished,” said Zhang. He added one punishment was standing still for up to three hours.
As one of the handlers of the beggars, Zhang earned more than 1.3 million yuan in nine months. He flew first class and often went to expensive Western restaurants, the newspaper reported.