Nearly three weeks have passed since Xiaodong (pseudonym), 14, was brutally attacked by four thugs who threw a slab of rock at his head and urinated on him as he lay defenselessly on the ground, but the emotional pain felt by the boy’s parents is still fresh. Neither has returned to work since the May 23 attack by a trio of boys aged 15 to 17, who all turned themselves in to police following online fury sparked by an eight-minute video of the vicious assault.
“He has turned into another person since the attack,” said Xiaodong’s mother, who asked not to be named.
“He rarely speaks and often wakes up in a cold sweat. His current condition is alarming.”
Carrying mental, physical scars
Xiaodong moved with his family as an infant to Beijing from their home in Zhumadian, Henan Province. His parents earn a modest living selling construction materials. In 2010, the family moved to Naixi village, a residential hub in Chaoyang district for migrant workers. Attacks by high school dropouts on younger students are a regular occurrence in the village, but Xiaodong’s parents never expected their son would be targeted. His assault was in revenge after the three youths wrongly believed Xiaodong had told police that the eldest attacker had beaten up a child in April.
In the wake of Xiaodong’s assault, parents and experts have urged efforts to stamp out such brutal behavior. Proposed measures include stricter parental supervision of rebellious teens, self-defense classes for vulnerable students and anti-bully programs in schools. Xiaodong’s mother has been unable to bring herself to watch the now-infamous video, in which she said the three boys “wanted to kill” her son. “[Xiaodong] told me he protected his stomach to minimize the blows.
“He is lucky to still be alive,” she said. Since the three attackers’ detention, they have confessed running a violent extortion ring robbing young local students of money. Xiaodong still feels pain in his head and back since being discharged from hospital, but it is the psychological scars that his mother fears will never heal. “His physical pain will hopefully ease as time passes, but we don’t know how long it will take for him to recover from the mental anguish,” she said. “I fear he will be a victim of violence for his entire life.”
