Didi’s founder says vanity and breathless expansion contributed to tragedy of passenger rape-murder
The death of the female Didi passenger has sparked nationwide concern in China over the safety of private-hire cars
Didi Chuxing’s founder Cheng Wei and president Jean Liu apologised for the death of a 20-year-old female passenger at the hands of a Didi driver, saying that “vanity” and “breathless expansion” had caused the Beijing-based start-up to lose sight of its original mission to build a better world of mobility.
“The past few days have been days of immense pain,” Cheng and Liu said in a statement released on Monday. “As founder and president of this company, we are deeply grieved and remorseful. Words are useless in the face of loss of a life. But we still wish to say sorry to the victim, her family, and everyone. We are sorry; we failed your expectations.”
Police in Yueqing city, in China’s eastern Zhejiang province, said on Saturday they found the body of a 20-year-old female surnamed Zhao, and arrested a Didi driver who confessed to her rape and murder.
The victim had sent a message to her friend a day earlier asking for help before she went missing. In May, another woman, aged 21, was raped and killed in Zhengzhou, in central China, allegedly by an unregistered Didi driver whose body was later found in a river.
The company’s ride-hitching service, which was introduced three years ago, became a popular option for people who were unable to get a train ticket or afford more expensive air fares during China’s Lunar New Year. About half of the trips were between 30 and 100 kilometres, or one to four hours drive, according to Didi in February.