Global Courant
He was sent to a martial arts club to take self-defense classes, but instead an eight-year-old boy in China was reportedly beaten and left for dead by the trainer who was supposed to protect him the day after he enrolled.
The boy’s parents signed him up for a year of classes at the Chongde Juying Martial Arts Sports Club, which began on June 17, and reportedly paid 7,680 yuan (S$1,440) to train him at the club in Qingdao, Shandong .
But on June 18, he was taken to the Third People’s Hospital in Chenyang District in East China Province and was pronounced dead on arrival. Medical records cited by the Chinese daily newspaper The Paper showed that his heart had stopped about 20 minutes before he reached the hospital.
The Chenyang branch of Qingdao’s Public Security Bureau said in a statement on Monday that three people associated with the club, including the couple in charge of the club and a coach, were arrested around 2 p.m. on June 18 on an alleged criminal case of intentional damage. that led to a death.
Investigations are ongoing and the club’s activities have been suspended.
In a video circulated online, a man can be seen trying to prop up a boy, apparently feeling weak, on a chair in what appears to be a classroom. The boy, wearing an orange T-shirt with the name of the martial arts club on it, falls from his chair to the floor as soon as the man stops supporting him.
As he lies motionless on the floor, a woman’s voice can be heard saying, “If you keep doing this, your mother told me, she won’t pick you up for a year.”
The boy is heard claiming he was “kicked” by a coach, leading the woman to question other children, all of whom are wearing the club’s orange T-shirt.
The boy’s father, identified as Mr. Zhai, told China Newsweek that the owner of the club sent the parents a video of the boy at around 11am on June 18.
Noticing that her son looked unusually pale, the mother asked the owner to monitor his condition.
But around 1:50 p.m., the family received news from the owner that the boy would not make it, shortly before the confirmation of his death.
The mother said the boy was bruised in many places, especially on his legs. She blamed the club’s coaches for not sending her son for treatment quickly.
According to publicly available information, the martial arts club was registered a little over two months ago, in April, with the intention of “nurturing and technically training martial arts talents” and hosting martial arts competitions and performances.
