Compensation rejected after botched kidnapping

An extended family in Yueyang, Hunan province, which was offered 20,000 yuan ($3,283.92) in compensation for each of three children kidnapped and killed by their uncle in a failed extortion attempt, have rejected the offer, according to the Legal Mirror on Sunday.

The case is under investigation, with 33-year-old Zhang Xingyan being detained on Friday, the city government of Yueyang said via its Sina Weibo, China's twitter like microblog, on Saturday.

The three children - Zhang Yang, Liu Hui and Zhang Lei - were murdered by their uncle Zhang Xingyan, according to the authorities.

But Zhang Bin, the father of Zhang Yang and Liu Hui, who is also the uncle of Zhang Lei and a cousin of the suspect Zhang Xingyan, believes the school and the bus driver, surnamed Feng, both bear some responsibility, and that if they had raised the alarm more quickly, it might have helped the rescue.

The local government said that Zhang Xingyan confessed to luring the three children to a car at the crossroads one kilometer from their home, when they were on their way to the bus stop. Police have not commented on motives or possible accomplices, but the family said that they were contacted by a man with a local accent who asked for a ransom. "A man with a Yueyang city accent called me to ask for 900,000 yuan as a ransom at 11 pm on Wednesday, and said that if I didn't pay the children would be killed," Zhang Nianyong, Zhang Yang and Liu Hui's grandfather, said, adding that when he called back, the suspect could no longer be reached.

Zhang Nianyong said that Zhang Xingyan had once opened a firecrackers factory outside of the county but lost a lot of money and owed large gambling debts.

The local authorities have done nothing except agree to provide 20,000 yuan for each child, according to Zhang Bin, who said he has rejected this result.