Public demands heavier punishment for RYB abuser

A former kindergarten teacher was sentenced one year and six months in prison on Friday for abusing children with needles, sparking a public outcry as many people believe the sentence is too light.

Chaoyang District Court in Beijing on Friday morning sentenced Liu Ya’nan – former teacher at Beijing RYB Education New World Kindergarten – to 18 months in prison and banned her from employment in the childcare field for five years after she was discovered “piercing” four children with needles in November 2017.

The court’s verdict said Liu’s behavior severely harmed the mental and physical health of the minors.

The ruling according to the court is based on China’s Criminal Law, which stipulates that those who abuse minors, the elderly, patients or disabled people in their care can be sentenced to up to three years behind bars if the circumstances are serious.

But netizens have voiced widespread disappointment over the court’s ruling, with many saying the penalty for committing such a heinous crime is too lenient.

Lü Xiaoquan, a lawyer with the Beijing Zhongze Women’s Legal Counseling and Service Center, told the Global Times that the ruling is in compliance with the law, but it’s too light given the harm it has brought to the entire educational industry as well as the severe public panic it aroused.

“There isn’t an article in China’s Criminal Law that is dedicated to the crime of child abuse. The crime of abuse in the eyes of the law is only applied to offenders and victims having familial relations and the relationship between teachers and students isn’t covered under the law. The law really lags behind,” Lü said.

The RYB abuse case aroused nationwide attention in November 2017 when an audio and video recording in which children claimed they were given pills to induce sleep and had been given physical examinations by some “uncle and grandpa doctors,” with one of the “doctors” allegedly being naked.

Later Beijing police cleared the kindergarten of sexual abuse, but Liu was found using needles to “tame” children.