Bystander watching woman get stabbed to death in south China filmed attack but didn’t call for help

A video of a woman being stabbed to death on Thursday in southern China has sparked a public outcry, as the person who filmed the incident appeared to have done nothing to stop the attack, mainland media reported.

The footage, which was widely shared across social media, showed a woman screaming on the ground after her waist was slashed three times by a young man wielding a knife, who later fled, state-owned Guangdong Television reported last Friday.

By the time an ambulance arrived on the scene – a back alley in Changan township in southern Dongguan – the victim, 20, was already dead.

Although the suspect was caught by police soon after the attack, the local community told media that they felt deeply saddened the person who filmed the attack, apparently from a window right above the crime scene, had not even tried to call the police.

“If that onlooker could have called for help promptly, the woman may not have died,” a resident in the neighbourhood was quoted as saying.

The police said they believe the suspect and the victim were lovers, and he thought she was cheating on him.