Caption: Taxi driver Master Liao said: "If he is sentenced, I will feel very guilty."
Image caption: Huang Weiwen
Image caption: The scene of the incident
He was 1.7 meters tall, but he only weighed less than 50 kilograms. If nothing else happened, he would spend the rest of his short life in peace and obscurity.
But the accident still happened. On the night of December 19, 2008, there was a conflict between a passenger and a passenger in Deshan, Changde, Hunan Province. Huang Weiwen, who was passing by, took the initiative to rescue his brother, but in the end he stabbed Hu Hai, a family member of the passenger who was chasing him, to death. Soon, Huang Weiwen was arrested by the public security organs on "suspicion of intentional injury", and the case has been transferred to the procuratorial organs.
The case of Huang Weiwen has set off a big debate in the local area. In the eyes of some local taxi drivers, Huang has become a "hero" who has acted bravely for justice, while others see him as a "murderer" who deliberately killed people. Whether it is praised or denigrated, the merits and demerits are right or wrong, and the case is still in a thick fog.
Courage
A brother who wears the stars and the moon every day and earns hard-earned money.
A uremic patient who is uremic and has a straight temper.
An oil factory worker who leads an ordinary life and is kind to others.
Liao Hua (pseudonym), Huang Weiwen, and Hu Hai, the original three "parallel lines" that never intersect, were ruthlessly tricked by fate and "crossed" on the night of December 19, 2008.
"If he was sentenced to prison, I would feel very guilty." Liao Hua, one of the point persons in the incident, later recalled to the Legal Weekly reporter the situation that night. At 7 o’clock that night, he took a passenger to the gate of Deshan Glass Factory in Changde City. After disembarking, a man and a woman on the roadside waved to him. Unexpectedly, after the two stopped Master Liao, they were not in a hurry to get on the car, but leaned against the door and started chatting, and the alcohol was soaring. Master Liao was a little impatient, so he asked them if they wanted to get on the car, and said that the car should be leaned to the side of the road, not in the middle of the road. This aroused the dissatisfaction of the two men and women, and the two dragged him out of the car and began to beat him. Later, another man came, and the three of them punched and kicked him. After the fight, the three of them ordered him to kneel, and Master Liao vowed not to kneel.
Afterwards, an employee of Hunan Jinjian Vegetable Oil Co., Ltd. introduced that the woman’s name was Li Ping, an old employee of their company. She was usually outspoken and never "blushed" with anyone. She had dinner with friends that night, and it was not ruled out that she drank wine at the table, but because she did not witness the scene with her own eyes, the cause of the conflict could not be presumed.
However, another anecdotal theory about the outbreak of the conflict is that Liao Hua "scratched the other side" or caused the conflict due to "bargaining" issues. But this claim could not be confirmed by the relevant departments or other witnesses for the time being.
Liao Hua recalled that at this time, a thin man in the crowd stood up and advised them not to embarrass a taxi driver and told him to hurry up.
murder occurs
This person is Huang Weiwen, a retired employee of the Eighth Bureau of Hydropower, and Huang’s girlfriend Li Yaling and others are with him.
According to Li Yaling, Huang is 40 years old, has four older sisters, and his parents have passed away. He is very upright and belongs to "people who vent their temper if they have a temper, and are not at ease after the fact." Huang is divorced and has a 14-year-old daughter. He served in the armed police force for four years and is a uremic patient. In May 2001, Huang underwent a kidney transplant in a hospital in Changde. Soon after, his unit, the Eighth Bureau of China Water Resources and Hydropower, handled the medical treatment procedures for him. The monthly medical expenses are thousands of yuan, and the care of the unit has been able to support it until now. In the first half of 2008, when Huang was examined at Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, the doctor told him that the kidney he transplanted had entered the aging stage and appeared "slow row".
If the condition is stable, there is still more than a year to live, otherwise there are only a few months of "life".
Li Yaling told reporters that in the end, under the persuasion of Huang Weiwen, the "peacemaker", Master Liao took the opportunity to get into a taxi and drove away from the scene. But what she did not expect was that Liao’s departure caused her boyfriend to get into trouble.
Ms. Li recalled that the trio placed the blame for the taxi driver’s "escape" on Huang Weiwen, and then threatened Huang. One of the men got into the car of Huang Weiwen’s friends and refused to let them go. At this point, Li Ping called his husband Hu Hai, who was in the same unit. After hearing the news, Hu Hai rushed to the scene immediately.
According to Li Yaling, after Hu Hai arrived, he punched Huang Weiwen. Seeing that there were many people, Huang Weiwen had to pull his leg and run, but his right leg was injured and he could not run at all. "After running for more than ten meters, three men and one woman all chased after him." During the escape, Huang took out a folding fruit knife from his right pocket, Li recalled, according to Huang Weiwen’s later description. At that time, Huang opened the folded fruit knife, shook it in front of the other party, and gave a warning.
But for this "cautionary" detail that could affect the characterization of the entire case, because she was too busy calling the police and missed the moment of witness, when she looked back, Hu Hai was already clutching her stomach and holding a bloody knife. Then, Hu fell. After the 120 ambulance arrived, Hu Hai died before he could be taken to the hospital.
But for that crucial detail, Xiao Shibiao, the lawyer representing the dead man, Hu Hai, said that he had learned from "public security reports," family members and witnesses that Huang stabbed Hu in the chest in an instant, and did not "warn" before. Exactly how this detail is will play a crucial role in the determination of the case.
The reporter was unable to learn the case from the public security department, and there was no way to verify the existence of the "warning" details.
Had a "criminal record"?
More than an hour later, Liao Hua, who left, heard from a radio program that a murder had occurred in Deshan, and the criminal police were looking for the driver who was beaten before the murder. Only then did he know that the man who persuaded him to kill him just now.
It is reported that after the killing, Huang Weiwen called the relevant personnel of the Criminal Police Brigade of the Deshan Public Security Bureau and surrendered himself. After the police investigated, Huang Zhi and Yang Hongbing, who attacked the person, were criminally detained.
After 10 days of criminal detention, Huang Weiwen was released on bail pending trial due to a "serious illness" and received treatment in the hospital. On January 14 this year, the prosecutor’s office requested and carried out an arrest for the crime of "intentional injury (death)."
Originally just a "peacemaker", he became an alleged offender in a blink of an eye.
Lawyer Xiao said that when Hu Hai and others pursued Huang Weiwen with their bare hands, Huang’s personal safety was not threatened. Huang carried a controlled knife with him, and the weapon used, the location chosen, and the strength of the force used in the retaliation against Hu Hai all led to a fatal knife. Huang Weiwen completed this act when he clearly knew that it would cause serious consequences, which is a kind of intentional homicide.
"He was unconscious at that moment, not intentional." But Huang’s girlfriend and a local lawyer took a different view of this claim. They believe it is self-defense.
Afterwards, some employees of the deceased’s unit introduced that Huang Weiwen had a bad reputation in the local area and had a "criminal record", but this was only their "hearsay".
A fellow journalist in Changde told reporters that he went to Huang’s local police department specifically for this matter, but found no evidence of a "criminal record." In addition, Huang Weiwen’s tendons in his hands and feet were cut a few months ago, reportedly due to a dispute with a competitor while dealing with waste from his original unit. After surgery from the hospital, his injuries have not yet healed.
As the case was still under investigation, the reporter could not verify whether Huang had a "criminal record".
Awaiting a fair ruling
The leaders of Hu’s unit expressed regret when talking about Hu Hai’s death, and repeatedly claimed that Hu Hai was a kind and dutiful person who never had the experience of competing with others.
After Hu’s death, colleagues in his unit have consistently elected him as the outstanding employee of 2008 to show their recognition of his work and personality during his lifetime.
But on the other hand, Master Liao, a taxi driver who got out of the "whirlpool", issued an initiative to the Changde Taxi Industry Association and all drivers, calling for support for Huang Weiwen’s "daring to uphold justice" behavior.
At present, many taxi drivers have signed their names on the proposal. Master Liao hopes that through his own efforts, Huang will be exempted from "punishment".
Lawyer Xiao told reporters that Huang has turned himself in, but it will not affect the characterization of the case, but will only let the court consider his sentencing. In addition, they will file a criminal incidental civil lawsuit with the court in this case. He hopes that public opinion will not affect the fair ruling of the law, and the parties will be fair.
"We think it is also appropriate to compensate the family of the deceased, but Huang Weiwen’s money has been used for medical treatment." Li Yaling, who has known Huang for five years, said she has hired a lawyer to defend him and strive for the best possible sentence. In addition, financial compensation will be a big issue because Huang has little savings.
Ms. Li told reporters that while Ms. Huang was being treated at the hospital and "escorted" by specialized personnel from the public security department, she sent medicine and food to the hospital every day, but that her health was not as good as it used to be. She said her "boyfriend" was temporarily unavailable for interviews because of concerns about "repercussions."
A person from the Wuling District Procuratorate of Changde City revealed that the case was returned to the public security organ for supplementary investigation on February 12 and relevant evidence was organized.
"Both sides are unfortunate, and I hope the law will give a fair judgment." Changde’s brother, Master Li, sighed meaningfully.
Editor in charge: Wang Xin