A Shenzhen court has sentenced three people to up to two years in prison for trafficking in disabled children and forcing them into begging, mainland media reported yesterday.
It was the first time anybody had been convicted in Shenzhen of forcing others to beg, the reports said.
The Futian District People's Court ordered married couple Wang Qingchen, 58, and Gong Jilan , 54, to each serve two years in prison, and their co-accused, Gong Chunbei, to serve 14 months, the Jing Bao newspaper reported.
The couple were convicted of smuggling three disabled children from Anhui province to Shenzhen, where they physically abused the children and forced them to become beggars, the report said.
The court was told the couple paid 2,000 yuan to an unidentified man in May 2002 to 'rent' a 13-year-old physically disabled boy and took him to Shenzhen to beg.
In June 2005 and in 2006, Gong Jilan and Gong Chunbei, her brother, bought two 12-year-old physically disabled girls and sent them to Shenzhen for the same purpose.
