Shoplifting duo have 11 children, use them to avoid jail time as China exempts expectant and nursing mothers from prison
- Pair’s clothing shop closes due to Covid-19, desperate to feed children
- Repeatedly use pregnancy and breastfeeding times to steal from upscale shops
A criminal duo in China who carried out a string of thefts have been using pregnancy to escape being sent to jail.
Best friends, Xiao Qing, 30, and Zhu Zhu, 39, met through their jointly run clothing business.
During the Covid-19 pandemic when business was slow, their shop was forced to close, leaving them without a source of income.
Zhu Zhu, who has been married and divorced twice, has seven children from her marriages – three from the first and four from the second. Xiao Qing has four children.
Stressed with financial demands of raising children, the desperate mothers decided to turn to crime, according to police in Shanghai.
The pair discovered that under the law in China, expectant and nursing mothers can avoid imprisonment for their offences.