A 26 year old man who kidnapped a three year old boy whilst in the grips of a drug-induced hallucination has been sentenced to 63 months in jail, Shanghai Daily reports.
The man, surnamed Li, had been driving with his wife on April 5, before stopping near the intersection of Shangnan and Gaoqing roads in the Pudong area of the city at around 8 pm, where the child was outside playing with his mother. Leaving his wife in the car, Li proceeded to smash a window of a nearby car, and grabbed a knife from a nearby food stall. He then snatched up the tot at knifepoint and told the child's mother to call the police because he believed someone was chasing him.
Li was later restrained by a passing police officer.
Whilst Li's lawyer argued that the defendant did not intend to harm the child, the court noted that Li held the child at knifepoint, constituting kidnapping under Chinese law. The minimum prison sentence in China for kidnapping is 10 years, however, the court granted Li a lenient sentence because his actions did not have "serious consequences".
[Image via Flickr]
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