Deng Yujiao Murder Case Highlights Women

You should be kissed and often and by someone who knows how.

Your position:Home->china news-> Deng Yujiao Murder Case Highlights Women

Deng Yujiao Murder Case

A female hotel employee whose arrest for murder sparked a wave of national sympathy in China after her lawyers said she was fighting off a rape attack has been released on bail, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Deng Yujiao, 21 years old, was arrested after she allegedly stabbed two local government officials with a fruit knife in the Xiongfeng Hotel in central Hubei province, killing one of them. According to the latest police report, Ms. Deng got in a quarrel with Huang Dezhi when he 'mistook' her for a bathhouse attendant and asked her for 'cross gender' services.

Mr. Huang's colleague, Deng Guida, eventually intervened and the argument escalated when he pushed Ms. Deng onto a couch twice, and she 'took a fruit knife and stabbed' Mr. Deng four times, including once in the neck, the report said. She also stabbed Mr. Huang in the forearm. Mr. Deng, who worked for an office overseeing investment projects in Badong city and isn't related to Ms. Deng, later died from his injuries.

Badong County officials said the local public-security bureau is investigating the case, and Ms. Deng hasn't been formally charged. A public-security report said she was initially detained for 'suspicion of intentionally killing' Mr. Deng.

Ms. Deng's lawyers have said she was acting in self-defense when the men tried to rape her after she refused to have sex with them for money. The case has sparked public anguish over the issue of violence against women. Comments flooding in to Chinese Internet forums and blogs have been unusually sympathetic to Ms. Deng.

An essay posted on an Internet forum hosted by the People's Daily newspaper called the stabbing a 'heroic act' and a milestone for women's liberation. The date of the attack -- May 10 -- 'will forever be remembered as the day on which a [girl] bravely defended herself and fought against the corrupt official when her life was threatened,' said the author, writing under the pen name 'Shenzhou Shouwang,' or 'Watching Over China.'

In an online forum on the same Web site, a user called Guo Chunfu wrote that Ms. Deng 'used her own acts to show that even the underprivileged can have a dignified life.'

The outpouring of support prompted the Badong County government to take the extraordinary step of posting a headline on its Web site inviting anyone concerned with Ms. Deng's case to call the county's news and information center. The Web site says it has assigned a representative to the case in order to ensure that investigations are transparent and timely.

Last weekend, five women staged a demonstration in support of Ms. Deng near the Beijing West Railway Station. Wu Rongrong, an AIDS activist in the group, said the protest highlighted the need for greater 'social respect and legal protection' for women. Another protester, wrapped in white cloth and wearing a face mask, lay on the floor next to sheets of paper that read: 'Anyone may become Deng Yujiao.'

Spokesmen for the Badong County government declined to comment further on the case, and Ms. Deng couldn't be reached to comment. Her defense lawyers were fired at her mother's request this week after disagreements over strategy.

Loretta Chao

Preview:Yum:Rooted in China, Pa Next:Chinese banks deny they