Chinese boxer accused of battering wife to death in sustained assault
Mother of young child died three days after being locked in a room at her home and beaten continuously for five hours
A boxer in southwest China has been arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife in a sustained, five-hour assault, local media reported.
Xu Ding, 32, a boxing coach from Jiangyou city, in Sichuan province is said to have locked his wife Zhao Pan, with whom he had an 17-month-old baby, in a room one night in September.
Sichuan Television, which broadcast a feature about the case on Friday, reported that he then continuously punched and slapped the 27-year-old as well as hitting her with a stick and scabbard.
Xu’s mother eventually heard Zhao screaming and crying, and knocked at the door asking her son to stop. But she told the television station that he refused to listen.
When Xu finally opened the door, she found Zhao lying unconscious in a pile of vomit. She called an ambulance, while her son ran off.
Zhao was taken to hospital, where she died three days later. She was thought to have suffered brain damage in the attack.
Xu was arrested hours after the incident.
Local police said he was under the influence of drugs and later tested positive for methamphetamine.
Xu claimed he had become infuriated because he caught Zhao cheating, an accusation her family denied.
