Chinese net addict murders mother

Refused cash for cybercafe

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 14th June 2007 10:30 GMT

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A southern Chinese teenager killed his mother with a kitchen knife after being refused cash to go to a net cafe, Reuters reports.

The youth, named only as Wang and described as "heavily addicted" to the internet, stabbed his mother during "a heated argument" in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, according to the Beijing Youth Daily.

When his father came home, Wang also attacked him. The paper explains: "After his father got home, Wang hacked at him causing serious injury. Seeing what he had done, Wang went to his room and sat on his bed."

Wang's father escaped bleeding to his brother's house, who alerted the police.

The Beijing Youth Daily describes Wang as "less than 16" and a school drop-out who spent his time in cybercafes when not working with his father "who made a living selling barbecue food in their neighbourhood". He apparently "dreamed of being an outstanding politician or economist and believed his parents were stifling his development".

Accordingly, Wang had already planned to kill them a month prior to the incident, having "once prepared to kill his father with an iron bar" and recently bought sleeping tablets. ®

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