Mob justice after brutal killing

The woman lay on the hospital bed, attempting to ignore the torrent of abuse coming from the angry mob just down the hall.

Dirty water was splashed along the walls, and the cleaners in the hospital had been attempting to clean up the mess for hours. The following day would bring more hatred, more anger, as the next wave of furious people came to send their outraged regards to the woman who had given birth just days before.

Tan Beibei had become public enemy No.1. On July 24, while still pregnant, she had allegedly lured Hu Yixuan, a 17-year-old intern nurse at a hospital in Hua'nan county, Heilongjiang Province, to her death.

After cheating on her husband Bai Yunjiang, Tan believed she owed him "sexual compensation." To this end, she reportedly found Hu on the street, feigned pregnancy pains and lured her home, where Bai drugged, raped and killed her.

The outrage from the public has been fierce, particularly given the fact that Tan is still in the hospital where Hu once worked, receiving treatment in the wake of her son's birth.

A cursed family under siege

The fate of the child, presuming both parents go to prison, remains in doubt.

A report from the Legal Mirror said Saturday that couples from multiple provinces called the local police saying that they want to adopt the boy born on August 6, after reports stating that the boy's grandparents had refused to raise him as they couldn't afford the expense.

The boy is now being taken care of by his mother, the report said.

As results trickled out from the investigation, the public were shocked to find that it was not the first time Tan had seemingly attempted to abduct girls to have sex with her husband. This made it even more difficult to understand her motivations and further incensed an already outraged public.

Tan successfully persuaded a girl into accompanying her home using the same ploy in July, but, fortunately, the girl left after she received a phone call as they approached Tan's apartment.

The Chengdu Business Daily reported that Tan also attempted to trap a friend of her husband's daughter from a previous marriage when the two visited Bai, but failed.

The constant revelations and controversy have also affected the family of the couple. The fiancé of Tan's sister decided to end the marriage after hearing of the case, and Bai's brother has had business troubles, reported the Harbin-based Life Daily Post Thursday.

A political commissar of the county's police bureau, surnamed Guo, told the Global Times Friday that the police planned to officially arrest the couple on Monday and Tan was still in hospital, under close police guard, without anyone able to see her.

But as recently as a few days ago, local residents had constantly been "visiting" Tan's ward to express their outrage.

"Different groups of people came to abuse her every day. It's as if they were arranged to do so," Zhou said. "The woman just remained expressionless most of the time, watching TV, pretending she wasn't hearing all these insults."

Some even splashed dirty water on her ward, with cleaners spending hours clearing away all the water in the ward, while doctors insulted her within earshot, making her cry, to name just a few cases, according to a report from the Chengdu Business Daily.

Zhou noted that later the security around her was reinforced, with the windows of the ward even covered with newspapers.