Yang Wu, 31 years old, runs a home appliance repair shop in Xixiang Street, Bao’an District in Shenzhen. His repair shop only makes about 1000 yuan per month, barely covers the family’s table. What’s worse, the shop is constantly harassed but Yang Wu always turns the other cheek just to get by with his second wife Wang Juan.
The seemingly peaceful life as they prefer was disrupted on Oct 23rd night when a drunk joint-defense team personnel Yang Xili along with two other strong hunks came into their shop smashing everything with steel pipe and baton and yelling “I will make you suffer to dead”. In Yang Wu’s eye, Yang Xili was really “flippant, unstoppable and often beat people up and smash cars”, instead of performing his duty of protecting the neighborhood and assisting police work.
When Yang Xili rushed in, Yang Wu just got out of the shower and his wife Wang Juan was doing house work. Yang Wu immediately fled into the storage room to escape being beaten up, whereas her wife came up to stop the smashing. Yang Xili grabbed her hair and pushed her towards the table. The more Wang Juan resisted, the more violent Yang Xili bashed her and shouted: “I am a joint-defense team personnel, brother of the police, it is useless to call the cops.”
Yang Xili also used the steel pipe to threaten Yang Wu’s 76-year-old mother and his 13-year-old daughter, driving them far away from off the house. Yang Wu as man of the house witnessed the whole thing while holding his breathe in the corner. He thought Yang Xili got tired and left just like before. He was wrong.
A few minutes later, Yang Xili returned and ordered the other two strong men to watch for him at the door. Then it came Wang Juan’s screaming for help. Yang Xili swore and forced to fumble all over Wang Juan’s body. Wang Juan resisted only to get another round of walloping. After 20 minutes of beating, Yang Xili started tearing Wang Juan’s clothes, and dragged her into the bed room. Yang Wu heard his wife getting abused and raped.
In this less than 50 sqm apartment, the room where the violence took place and the storage room was so close that the hiding spot of Yang Wu was less than 2 m from the bed. Yang Wu could hear clearly what’s happening. In fact, he could see the living room and the bed room clearly if he could just raise his head. However, Yang Wu only hid there in tears, biting his lips for fear of making sound.
Wang Juan in a mass of bruises and blood all over her face, murmured: “I don’t have face to live on, rather just die.” She cried and scolded at the sight of his husband: “You are not a man.” Yang Wu’s mother also cried and hit his son while crying “useless husband, useless son. My son is too weak, he failed my daughter-in-law”. She kneeled on the floor, begging for Wang Juan’s forgiveness.
Yang Wu wept: “I wanted to rush in there with a knife and slay that monster. But I have 4 children to raise and a 76 years old mother to support. If I go to jail, who’s gonna take care of them? I can’t afford a broken family.” He said his 160 cm figure was not Yang Xili’s opponent, plus they carried weapon and two sidekicks. He also worried that if he called the cops, he would be bullied even harder later.
Yang Xili was arrested by the police. But the nightmare is not over. In the following half month, Yang Wu was constantly harassed by Yang Xili’s family in order to make him drop the lawsuit. In a phone recording, Yang Xili’s brother threatened “Your whole family may die out” “I can’t promise your children’s safety after my brother gets out from the jail in a few years. His wife has already run away, he has nothing to lose, you think about it”.
Yang Xili’s mother even took her grandson along to come to Yang Wu’s door and scolded them “The woman’s shameless, she seduced my son and then accused him for rape?” “You are raped but still make a fuss of it, don’t you have sense of shame?” Yang Wu’s mother kneeled to stop her making false accusation and begged for justice.
Fear for revenge, Yang Wu actually went to the police department to request cancellation of the lawsuit, but was rejected and reprimanded by the police.
Wang Juan only stayed for a short while in the hospital since the family couldn’t afford her complete treatment. She fell into very unstable mental status, refused to drink or eat. Yang Wu and his mother took turn to keep an eye on her as Wang Juan already attempted suicide several times.
The bloodstain was still there under the bed. Bandage wrapped around her left wrist, the same hand she wore her wedding ring. Her 13-year-old daughter cried along with her mother. The youngest kid was only 3 years old, doesn’t quite understand what’s happening yet.
People are confused about Yang Wu’s action. One bystander said, the police department was only a few steps away. Yang Wu could have run out of the house and shout for help, police and neighbors would come to his rescue in seconds. But he didn’t.
Joint-defense team claimed that Yang Xili was only a personnel of the force, but only for temporary employment. He was unemployed days before the crime.
