A court in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou Province in southwest China, commenced a retrial last Friday for a high-profile child abduction and trafficking case, following the discovery of new evidence.
The case centers on Yu Huaying, 61, who was sentenced to death last year by the Guiyang Intermediate People’s Court for kidnapping and trafficking 11 children in the 1990s for profit.
Yu appealed the sentence, prompting the Guizhou Provincial Higher People’s Court to order a retrial after police uncovered additional criminal evidence.
In November last year, the higher court held a second-instance trial, and in January, it ordered a retrial after authorities discovered Yu’s involvement in more child trafficking cases, according to Xinhua.
The retrial revealed that six more children had been abducted by Yu, increasing the total number of victims to 17 over the course of 20 years.
Yu, along with her husband Wang Jia Wen and her lover Gong Xian Liang (now deceased), is accused of kidnapping 17 children between 1993 and 2003.
According to court records, after Yu’s husband was imprisoned for theft, Yu met Gong, with whom she had a son. Struggling financially, they sold the boy to a middleman in Hebei Province for 5,000 yuan (US$707).
Seeing a lucrative opportunity, they began kidnapping and selling children. After his release from prison, Yu’s husband became actively involved in the crime.
Together, they wandered around Guizhou Province, Chongqing City and other places, where they abducted children and took them to Handan City, Hebei Province, looking for buyers.
They lured children with treats and games. Initially targeting neighboring children, they later expanded their operations to avoid suspicion, China Daily reported.
Yu managed to evade prosecution multiple times. In 2000, she was arrested on suspicion of child trafficking but was released after two months in custody.
She resumed her criminal activities in 2004 with her husband. After another arrest following a report by a victim’s parents, they used false names and were each sentenced to eight years in prison. During this time, Yu’s lover passed away.
After being released in 2009 following a pardon, Yu and her husband moved to Chongqing City. Twelve years later, a former victim, Yang Niuhu, was reunited with her family and provided information that led to Yu’s arrest.
Yu’s husband, Wang Jia Wen, was tried in Yunnan Province on Sept. 19 for his role in two cases of child trafficking and for escaping from prison. His sentence has not yet been disclosed.
During both her initial trial and the recent retrial, Yu did not deny the accusations but claimed she did not profit from the kidnappings, instead shifting most of the blame onto her husband and lover.
The court has not announced Yu’s sentencing date.
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