A woman was attacked and robbed in Suzhou City, China on February, only to find out weeks later that the suspect was her daughter-in-law. The victim’s son was also involved in the attack. The son and daughter-in-law have been arrested, and are facing trial, according to Chinese state-media Jiangsu News.
The specific dates of the attack and the arrest were not given in the report.
The victim, surnamed Ji, 50, resides in Suzhou in Jiangsu Province. She had a bad relationship with her son and daughter-in-law, and had stopped talking with them for over a year.
Ji’s son, surnamed He, and his wife, surnamed Shen, resented their mother and wanted to take revenge by planning an attack.
They lured Ji into a trap by posing as an online love-interest who wanted to meet her in person for the first time. Then the couple traveled to Ji’s hometown to perpetrate the attack.
He backed out of the plan at the last moment, but Shen went ahead on her own. When Ji arrived at the supposed meeting place, Shen attacked her mother-in-law with a pair of scissors, and stole her cellphone.
Shen was identified through closed-circuit camera footage, and later arrested, along with He. She gave an interview about the case to Jiangsu News, which aired on April 25.
“He said he didn’t dare go to jail, so I just did it myself,” Shen told the Jiangsu News.
Shen explained that the reason for the attack was due to mistreatment that both she and her husband had endured from Ji.
Conflict From the Start
Shen began living with He in 2016. When they got married, there were disputes about the betrothal payment—a common custom in China where the groom’s family gives the bride’s family a large sum of money.
Since then, Ji had always been at odds with Shen, and would not sign any official marriage documents for the couple.
Right after Shen gave birth, the conflicts with her mother-in-law began to escalate.
“While I was eating, she was carrying a basin of boiling water, and poured it on my back,” Shen told the Jiangsu News. “She said it wasn’t on purpose, and I just cried.”
On top of that, Shen alleges that Ji taught their son to smoke cigarettes.
He also argued with his mother about her behavior and unfair treatment towards his family. However, Ji began holding deeper grudges against the couple, but did not elaborate further, according to the Jiangsu News.
The two then broke off contact with Ji for more than a year, and only knew that she had moved to Suzhou.
No further details were provided as to why the couple decided to pursue revenge.
A Plot for Revenge
The couple conspired the attack through deceiving Ji. Shen registered a WeChat account, the most popular messaging service in China. She posed as a man, close to the same age as Ji, and chatted with her on the pretense of making friends. Then in February, after a year and a half of communication, Shen obtained Ji’s work and home addresses.
Without delay, both Shen and He hatched a plot against Ji. They convinced Ji that her supposed internet squeeze would come to meet her for a first date.
The couple traveled together to Suzhou. However, after they arrived, He backed out of the plan because he was afraid of going to jail. But Shen went ahead on her own.
Before the attack, Shen was seen by closed-circuit cameras in a nearby supermarket. There, she purchased a pair of scissors.
Security footage taken before the attack allegedly shows Shen pacing around the area, concealing her face with a scarf.
After Ji got off work, she walked down an alleyway for the arranged meeting, and was suddenly grabbed around her neck from behind. Ji struggled and shouted for help.
“I jabbed at her head twice with the scissors, she shouted ‘save me,’ and pushed me away,” Shen told the Jiangsu News.
Police told the Jiangsu News that the injuries Ji suffered were mostly to sensitive areas, including her temples.
Before Shen ran away, she grabbed her mother-in-law’s phone, and fled the scene.
Since the attack happened in a poorly lit area, and since Shen covered her face, Ji had no way to identify her attacker. Ji suspected that it was a man who attacked her, but security guards who witnessed the attack said it was likely a female attacker, according to the Jiangsu News.
Ji was later shown the security footage from the supermarket, and was reportedly stunned to realize it was her daughter-in-law, according to the Jiangsu News. Police said Ji’s description of the woman was similar to the footage.
After Ji confirmed that the woman in the footage was indeed her daughter-in-law, police arrested Shen in Yangzhou. Shen admitted to robbing Ji, according to the Jiangsu News.
“This truly is the first time I’ve ever done something like this to her,” Shen told the Jiangsu News. “I’ve silently tolerated humiliation [from her] for both my child and husband.”
“But I don’t know why, maybe now it was just too much.”
Shen was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and He was released on bail. The report did not give specific dates.
