On October 2, three women forcibly took a mother’s baby from a stroller outside a shopping mall in Beijing’s Fengtai District. The baby was recovered moments after the incident took place.
The reason for the baby snatching was said to be a misunderstanding. A woman surnamed Li thought the baby was her grandchild because the woman pushing the baby’s stroller bore a striking resemblance to her daughter. According to China Daily, Li hadn’t seen the baby since his birth last July due to a family dispute.
While Li and her three friends carried out this ill-advised plan, Li had fallen down and told her friends to follow the mother and take the baby.
In a Weibo post written by the husband two days after the incident, he relayed his wife’s traumatic experience. He stated that one of the women looked at the baby and said, “He’s really charming,” after which attempting to pull the baby from his stroller seat. While the mother was able to prevent the first woman from taking her child, the other two ladies managed to snatch the baby in broad daylight. By that point, a crowd had begun to gather, and a shopkeeper came to the rescue.
The worker said in a recent interview on October 6, "When I rushed to the scene, the child's mother was lying on the ground yelling, "Call the police. They're taking my child." The man sprung into action, securing the frightened, crying baby in his arms while questioning the women on what was going on.
Once the police arrived at the scene, they brought the women to the police station for questioning and verified Li’s story by visiting her daughter and grandchild. Ultimately, the women were issued five days of administrative detainment (one woman was not detained due to health ailments).
The father of the baby victim vented his anger on social media, expressing his concern with a lack of accountability towards criminals. Other commenters echoed similar thoughts on the matter, with one person commenting, “This happened in a jam-packed area in Beijing during broad daylight... but with an end result that merely scratches the surface. This is practically encouraging criminal activity.”
[Cover image Verdes Cosmin/unsplash]
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