Father given 18-month sentence for child abuse

The father who brutally abused his 11-year-old daughter was sentenced to 18 months in prison Tuesday in Southwest China's Guizhou Province.

Yang Shihai, a farmer from Bijie, Guizhou Province who perpetrated physical abuse and torturous assault on his 11-year-old daughter, was arrested on May 22. Yang was prosecuted on June 27 for the crime of intentional injury.

According to the evidence collected by the police and the local prosecutors, Yang picked up his daughter by her feet and dipped her head in a pot of boiling water last October, causing permanent damage to the girl's scalp, for no obvious reason.

The girl was also pierced with needles, forced to kneel on broken glass, and once had her mouth sewn shut by her father using fishing line to "keep her quiet."

The daughter is the eldest of the family's five children. Her siblings were not abused.

"Judging by the fact that Yang Shihai only tortured his eldest daughter and that this daughter was the only child not raised by Yang Shihai, we believe that he had intentionally abused the child to vent his frustration in life," said the prosecutor.

Yang's abuse raised great public concern as photos of the daughter with a scarred scalp circulated on the internet.

Wang Jie, a volunteer who often visits the victim, told the Global Times that the girl is currently living in a local nursing home, and that the local government failed to provide psychological rehabilitation and comfort.

Chen Huiqi, a child protection lawyer from Guizhou who follows the case, told the Global Times that the court is considering exploiting the father's right of custody.