A father who beat his seven-year-old mentally handicapped daughter to death because she answered a question wrongly has been jailed for six years.
The Beijing Morning Post reported yesterday that Yang Yannan's daughter, Yang Ziye, had been living with him since December when he and his wife divorced.
The report said that as the two were eating together on February 23, Yang asked the girl: 'Who is your father?' The child replied: 'Me.' Yang then beat the girl, who fell unconscious from her chair. He took her to hospital, where she died several days later from her injuries. Police were called and Yang was charged with murder.
The newspaper said Yang had often beaten his daughter, as he was annoyed that she was unable to take care of herself.
The case emerged as another newspaper reported that a six-year-old girl in Guangzhou was allegedly tortured by her parents for three years after her younger brother was born.
Mainland media rarely reported cases of child abuse until recently when papers in major cities started to give extensive coverage to social issues, such as crime and family disputes.
Yesterday's Nanfang City News, in Guangzhou, said Zhou Tingting suffered extensive beatings from her Sichuanese parents.
