Suspects held over ‘left-behind children’ killings in southern China: report

Two suspects have been detained over the murders this week of two "left-behind children" in southern Guizhou province, with mainland media reporting that one of the victims was sexually assaulted before her death.

The suspects were relatives of the brother and sister, aged 12 and 15, who were found dead with stabs wounds in their home in a village near Bijie , Beijing Youth Daily reported yesterday, citing the victims' uncles.

The case has drawn wide attention as the siblings are the latest "left-behind children" to die in the impoverished province. "Left-behind children" are the offspring of migrant workers who are left to fend for themselves after their parents head to work in distant cities.

The suspects, aged 17 and 20, allegedly killed the children as they feared their attack on the girl would be discovered, the report said.

The pair were detained on Wednesday and taken to the victims' home on Thursday to reconstruct the crime scene, it said.

The girl was also sexually assaulted by a 60-year-old neighbour last year, according to the newspaper. The man later paid the family 30,000 yuan (HK$37,400) - a large sum in the underdeveloped village - to settle the case, the report said.

Neither the Nayong county publicity department nor its public security bureau were available for comment.

The killings took place after the children's father, who works away from home in the provincial capital Guiyang , had left the village, according to the report. The children's mother had died.

The siblings' oldest sister, who was staying with another relative at the time of the killings, found the children's bodies when she returned home on Tuesday morning, the report said.

Sun Xuemei, director of Protecting Girls, a public fund dedicated to safeguarding girls from sexual abuse, said the organisation recorded 503 cases of sexual assault on children last year and 87 per cent of them were by someone the children knew.

"Lack of guardian protection is the No1 factor in child sexual assault cases. It's especially true for rural girls whose parents are away at work," Sun said.

"Social services and the government should pay more attention to them, such as setting up centres for such children."

A 2013 report by the All-China Women's Federation found that girl victims of sexual abuse were usually from poor families and needed basic material and financial support as well as legal aid.

The children's deaths came two months after four siblings - one boy and three girls aged five to 13 - who lived in poverty near Bijie, killed themselves by drinking pesticide. Their father was working away from home.

In 2012, five boys living on the streets in Bijie were found dead in a large rubbish container. They were suspected to have died from carbon monoxide poisoning while sheltering from the cold.