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Burnt by ex-lover, woman posts photos online
BEIJING: A woman doused with fuel and badly burnt by a classmate five years ago in China has posted recent photos on the Twitter-like Weibo platform, generating
BEIJING: A woman doused with fuel and badly burnt by a classmate five years ago in China has posted recent photos on the Twitter-like Weibo platform, generating thousands of comments that hailed her courage and spirt for life.
State media called 21-year-old Zhou Yan’s snapshots glamour photos; pictures of courage would probably be more appropriate.
In the photos, Zhou doesn’t hide her disfigured body or face – all the images show the thick, reddish scars on her face, torso, back, hands and legs years after the assault.
But what the photos reveal the most is Zhou’s courage in the face of a tragedy that could have consumed her life.
Zhou was 16 in 2011 when classmate Tao Rukun walked up to her at her home in eastern Hefei province, poured lighter fluid over her and set her on fire. Zhou had apparently broken off her relationship with Tao days before the attack.
She sustained severe burns and was hospitalised for months, losing a year in school.
The case was closely covered by the media as it emerged that Tao was the son of a local government official – known as a “princeling” – and was rich and influential. Tao was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2012.
