‘Punished for good deeds’: Chinese man sued by brother of homeless man he supported and housed for 13 years as family accused him of free labour exploitation
- A community in China is shocked by legal action against a man who took in a homeless person and provided food and housing for years
- The homeless man is deaf and mute and relied on the man’s family heavily, however, his brother says he was used for free labour and wants repayment
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A Good Samaritan in China who sheltered a homeless man for 13 years was sued for compensation of 130,000 yuan (US$19,000) in what has become a trending story on mainland social media.
The case finally came to a conclusion this month when a court in central China dismissed a lawsuit seeking compensation for unpaid labour brought by the previously homeless man’s older brother earlier this year.
The kind man, surnamed Gu, is from Hubei province, where he has been living with and caring for the homeless man, surnamed Cheng. Recently Cheng’s long-lost older brother found Cheng and then filed a lawsuit seeking compensation from Gu, Star Video reported.
Cheng is a deaf-mute who requires a lot of daily support from Gu, who provides him with accommodation and food.
It all started in 2005, Gu stumbled upon Cheng, who had run away from home. After a discussion with his wife, Gu took Cheng in and let him live on the third floor of their house, where Gu set up a room for him.
Cheng said he felt blessed that Gu had given him a safe place in life. In recognition of their trust, Cheng left his savings of 5,000 yuan (US$720) with Gu for safekeeping.
The arrival of Cheng’s older brother in 2018 changed the situation.
When the brother turned up, the surprised Gu said he felt happy that Cheng had reunited with his family and also passed Cheng’s life savings to his brother for safekeeping.
However, the brother believed that Cheng had contributed materially to Gu’s household with cleaning and cooking and started taking action to seek 130,000 yuan repayment for Cheng’s “unpaid” work.
The lawsuit shocked Gu’s friends and neighbours, with one unnamed neighbour saying the whole community would defend Gu as they knew the truth about the matter.
“Why should he pay compensation? Everybody knows that Gu has done a good deed,” the neighbour told Star Video.
Eventually, this month a local court heard the case and agreed that the support provided by Gu was charitable and that he had not caused any personal or property losses for Cheng and dismissed the lawsuit.
The story caused outrage on mainland social media.
One person asked: “Why should he be punished for good deeds?”
Another person cited a traditional proverb: “It’s the reality of The Farmer and the Snake, and the moral of the story is that a bad person will always cause harm even after being helped.”
