Three boys charged over horrific murder of student Xiao Guang

Three boys have been charged over the murder of their classmate in a case that has shocked China and sparked heated debate.

Three boys have been arrested over the death of a 13-year-old boy in a case that has shocked China.

The children were initially arrested over the death in March and were formally charged yesterday.

The case has been reported as the culmination of a horrific bullying campaign.

The victim’s body was found in an abandoned vegetable shed in the impoverished region of Handan in Hebei, China.

The 13-year-old victim was seen in surveillance camera footage on March 10. Picture: The Paper

The junior high school student — who has been given the pseudonym Xiao Guang — had been the victim of bullying by his classmates, according to local authorities.

His father, whose surname is Wang, said he vanished about 1pm on March 10 after leaving the family home located in the Feixiang district.

Xiao Guang last communicated with the family at 5pm and a search was launched that evening.

Police said surveillance footage appeared to show the boy with three other male students.

WeChat messages reportedly showed Xiao Guang had transferred money to one of the suspects, all of whom denied having met with the boy.

The suspects are questioned by police. Picture: Supplied

The boys are accused of beating the boy to death, disfiguring his face with a shovel, and attempting to bury the body.

The suspects were apprehended the next day.

Xiao Guang’s father said his son had been reluctant to attend school and added the parents were unaware of the scale of the alleged bullying.

According to a post on Chinese social media platform Douyin, the boy’s father wrote: “He was beaten alive and his body was disfigured beyond recognition.

“I hope the government will be fair, open and just, punish them severely, and that the killers will pay with their lives.”

In 2020, China lowered the minimum age of criminal responsibility for murder and severe injury cases to the age of 12.

However, prosecutions must be approved by the Supreme People’s Procuratorate. That body gave the green light for this case to proceed yesterday, Hebei authorities announced.

The maximum penalty for the offence of intentional homicide is the death penalty, however minors cannot be executed so the strongest penalty that can be enforced is life imprisonment, state-run media outlet the Global Times reported.

The death has sparked renewed debate in China over the so-called “left-behind children” — kids in rural China who are left to fend for themselves while their parents work in major cities.