Oh God, people. On Monday evening in Linfen, Shanxi province, a six-year-old boy had both of his eyes gouged out after he was kidnapped outside his home. He was then left outside, bleeding and crying, where neighbors found him later that night.
According to the mother interviewed in this news report (note: video contains disturbing content), her son, Binbin, went outside sometime between 5 and 6 pm. An hour or two later, she called him inside — but he was nowhere to be found.
Around 11 pm, he was finally located. His face and body were covered in blood.
On the ride to the hospital, the boy managed to tell his father a bit of what happened. As the father tells the news crew, a man apparently snatched Binbin and tried to take his eyes. The kidnapper apparently told the boy, “Don’t cry. Don’t cry and I won’t gouge out your eyes.”
“No one understands why this happened,” says one of Binbin’s relatives, interviewed in the waiting room. “Look, who did we wrong? No one. Made enemies with anyone? Also no. We’re just a common family.”
“It’s too cruel,” others said.
UPDATE, 8/28, 11 am: It’s a female suspect, according to Global Times. Police have offered a 10,000 RMB reward for information leading to her capture. Also:
The boy was unconscious when he was found in a field not far from his home late on Saturday night. The police found his eyeballs at the scene, however, the corneas were gone.
UPDATE, 9/4: Police identify suspect as boy’s aunt, who then killed herself.
UPDATE, 11/25, 9:01 am: Guo Bin has prosthetic eyes.
The latest word is that the boy says the kidnapper had an “accent”, meaning he is a waidiren (outsider).
I hope so much that this is fake news, that there’s some kind of scam. But I’m believing it – the horror. The horror that this is.
I sense something deeper. Maybe this is personal to the family. Maybe this was revenge. Seems too targeted to be random; oh and they also mentioned ““Look, who did we wrong? No one. Made enemies with anyone? Also no. We’re just a common family.””
With the “missing body part” found and the corneas missing, at this point I think we can all safely say this is an “involuntary” donor transplant.
As for why the family would say such a thing, it may just be the whole “Why me?” thing that all Chinese have. Chinese have misplaced pens and said the same thing.
The most recent news has pictures where the boy almost looks to be resting comfortably, and family members crying in corners:
http://pic.news.sohu.com/detail-473974-0.shtml#0
‘The assailant is a woman with a foreign accent, the boy said.’ (from china daily).
That also discusses a rumor that it had been done for the boys corneas.
There is a couple of people willing to help Binbin in any way we can. please let me know how can we get ahold of his family.