Man accused of barging into ex-wife’s home and raping her while their daughter was sleeping shocks people in China
- The man was caught on video ambushing his ex-wife and daughter and forcing his way into their home
- He is accused of raping his former partner after his daughter went to sleep
Chinese police detained a man in eastern China on Monday who is accused of forcing his way into the home of his ex-wife and daughter and then raping his former partner after surveillance footage of part of the attack went viral online.
The case went public after two short video clips from surveillance cameras outside the woman’s flat were widely circulated online on Monday night, reigniting concerns over female personal safety in mainland China.
Personal safety for women has been in the public spotlight since last month when several female diners were brutally beaten by a group of men in a restaurant after one of the women rejected one man’s advances in the city of Tangshan in northern China.
One surveillance clip from the recent alleged rape shows a man in a red raincoat ambushing the woman and her daughter on the staircase outside their home. After she unlocked the front door, the man jumped on her before dragging her and the little girl, apparently frightened and shouting, into the flat.
In another video, apparently recorded at night time, a shirtless man is seen opening the front door of the same unit before checking the electricity metre near the door.
The fate of the mother and daughter remained one of the most-searched topics on Weibo as concerned citizens flagged various police stations before the Shandong police eventually responded.
A topic about the man being detained has been viewed 520 million times on the platform at the time of writing.
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9 arrested over fierce attack on women in Tangshan
Zhan and the woman divorced last month, and the alleged sexual assault took place after his request to remarry was rejected, according to a police statement.
If convicted of rape, he could be jailed for between three and 10 years.
Zhou Qiang, president of the Supreme People’s Court of China, told a conference of judges over the weekend to punish assaults against women, children and the elderly “with the utmost severity” as authorities seek to contain public anger following the Tangshan attack on June 10.
Late last month, the Ministry of Public Security launched a 100-day summer campaign against gang crimes, promising a police crackdown to improve personal safety for women.
