For killing her brother-in-law and brother-in-law, Zhou Xiaomei's husband Zhu Shengmin was sentenced to death in the first instance. For Zhou Xiaomei, who has suffered domestic violence for a long time, the good news is that no one will abuse her anymore, and the bad news is that she has lost the economic pillar of her family, her own brother, and the most powerful "foreign aid" of her mother's family. What was left to Zhou Xiaomei was the 3 children she needed to raise and her father-in-law who had been paralyzed for many years and needed to be taken care of, her life seemed to start anew, but it seemed that she had seen the end......
Become the object of your husband's anger
Zhou Xiaomei was born in 1981, she had meningitis when she was 8 years old, and after she recovered from her illness, she was a little slower than others to learn, speak, and react, but it did not affect her normal life. In 2000, Zhu Shengmin, who was also a fellow villager, was introduced to Zhou Xiaomei by fellow villagers and soon married her. In this almost "arranged" marriage, despite having 4 children, Zhu Shengmin does not remember his wife's age, and thinks that she "has a problem with her brain and can't do things well", so Zhou Xiaomei often becomes the target of Zhu Shengmin's anger.
Zhou Xiaomei can't remember when she was beaten for the first time, under what circumstances, and she doesn't remember how many times she was punched and kicked after marriage. In her eyes, her husband doesn't smoke or drink, but he has a quick temper, and she has to follow him in everything she does.
In the summer of 2021, the family's puppy ran out of the house and disappeared, and Zhu Shengmin asked Zhou Xiaomei to look for it, because Zhou Xiaomei didn't find the puppy, so she was beaten again. At the end of December 2022, Zhu Shengmin contracted the virus and could only rest at home. Because Zhou Xiaomei did not cook and stew pears for her husband in time, after she returned home, Zhu Shengmin picked up a broken axe handle and beat her.
For his father-in-law and mother-in-law, Zhu Shengmin did not have a good face. Once knowing that her daughter was beaten, Zhou Xiaomei's parents came to her house, Zhou Xiaomei's father was angry and slapped Zhu Shengmin, who knew that Zhu Shengmin came back with a backhand.
Zhou Xiaomei's two brothers have been working outside for a long time, and they will only go home to see during the New Year and festivals, and their income is higher than that of Zhou Xiaomei's family, who only relies on farming for a living. Zhu Shengmin felt in his heart that his brother-in-law and brother-in-law looked down on him, and except for meeting during the New Year's holidays, they basically had no contact at other times.
In the eyes of his 14-year-old son Zhu Xiaoyuan, his father's temper is a little impatient, and he is usually beaten and scolded by his father when he is lazy. The relationship between Mom and Dad is also very ordinary, they will often quarrel over trivial matters, and sometimes they will even fight, and Dad will kick Mom with his feet.
At the end of 2022, Zhu Xiaoyuan found that his father bought a knife from outside, about 25 centimeters long, and his father explained that it was used to kill dogs and pigs during the Chinese New Year. The knife remained in the box on the cabinet and was not removed until January 7, 2023......
During the altercation, the two brothers were stabbed to death
On January 7, 2023, Zhou Xiaomei's brother returned home from other places to prepare for the New Year. After getting the news, Zhou Xiaomei told Zhu Shengmin that she wanted to cut some sugarcane from the sugarcane field at home and send it to her parents' house.
Zhu Shengmin was a little unhappy after hearing this, and after complaining a few words, he cut more than 30 sugarcanes from the sugarcane field, loaded them in a three-wheeled electric car and pulled them to the street to sell.
At half past eleven o'clock in the afternoon, Zhu Shengmin returned home after selling sugarcane, and went to rest after eating. Zhou Xiaomei took sugarcane to her parents' house and told her brother about the beating she had been beaten two days ago.
At 4 o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, Zhou Xiaomei's younger brother returned from other places, and before he had time to go to see his parents at home, he drove to Zhou Xiaomei's house with his brother and Zhou Xiaomei's uncle. On the way, my brother called Zhu Shengmin and said: "Your sugarcane is still greasy and crooked, and you beat my sister before, you wait, I will come over to teach you a lesson." ”
Zhu Shengmin, who received the call, felt psychologically unbalanced, "When I asked them to borrow money before, they didn't borrow one by one, and then not only came to my house to get things, but now they also said that they would come to teach me a lesson." Thinking of this, Zhu Shengmin took a knife that was originally intended to be used to kill dogs, and stood at the door of the house waiting for them to come over.
Zhou Xiaomei's brother drove to Zhu Shengmin's house first. Zhu Shengmin walked outside the main driver's door, pointed a knife at him through the car glass, and motioned for him to open the door. After the elder brother opened the main driver's door, he didn't get out of the car, so Zhu Shengmin stepped forward and said, "How are you going to teach me?" ”
Seeing Zhu Shengmin holding a knife in his hand, his brother's tone softened and said, "It's all a family, don't make it like this, this matter is over." ”
Hearing that Zhou Xiaomei's brother softened, Zhu Shengmin put down his hand holding the knife, and his brother also walked out of the car. Before the two could speak, their younger brother and uncle also arrived by car, got out of the car one after another, and quarreled with Zhu Shengmin about domestic violence and the relationship between the two families.
During the conflict, Zhou Xiaomei's brother was stabbed in the nose by Zhu Shengmin with a knife, then picked up the phone and called 110, and said to Zhu Shengmin: "I'll call the police, you are going to go to jail in the class room." After that, the phone was connected, and the brother reported the situation and address.
The quarrel between the two sides became more and more intense. Zhu Shengmin suddenly became murderous, and stabbed his brother-in-law and brother-in-law with a knife. The two failed to defend and stop them, and fell to the ground and died on the spot.
Zhu then returned home and threw the knife in his hand in a white plastic bucket in the courtyard. On the way to the police station to surrender on a three-wheeled electric vehicle, the police from the police station who rushed to the police stopped him and took him back to the police station for investigation.
The procuratorates at the three levels are jointly carrying out judicial assistance
On June 29, 2023, the Yujiang Branch of the Public Security Bureau of Yingtan City, Jiangxi Province, concluded the investigation of the case and transferred Zhu Shengmin to the Yujiang District Procuratorate of Yingtan City for review and prosecution on suspicion of intentional homicide, and then the Yujiang District Procuratorate transferred the case to the Yingtan City Procuratorate for review and prosecution. After review, the Yingtan City Procuratorate believed that Zhu Shengmin was suspected of intentional homicide, and filed a public prosecution with the Yingtan City Intermediate Court on October 7, 2023.
During the review and prosecution, the prosecutor handling the case found that Zhou Xiaomei's mother's family only had two sons and one daughter, and she originally relied on her brother and younger brother to work outside, and she could also supplement the family and Zhou Xiaomei. After the incident, the four families fell one after another like dominoes.
At the end of 2023, the prosecutor of the Yujiang District Procuratorate of Yingtan City, Jiangxi Province came to visit Zhou Xiaomei's home.
Zhou Xiaomei's parents work as farmers and suffer from a variety of diseases such as high blood pressure, lumbar disc herniation, and heart disease, all of which require long-term medication. After the death of the elder brother and younger brother, the two families lost their breadwinners, and their children dropped out of school to work outside the home because the family could not afford the tuition and living expenses.
Zhou Xiaomei suffered from meningitis when she was a child, her intelligence was lower than that of ordinary people, and she had been farming for a long time. After the two were killed, Zhu Shengmin was detained, causing Zhou Xiaomei to lose her financial resources. Among Zhou Xiaomei's four children, except for the eldest daughter, who is working abroad, the remaining three children are still studying. Due to the difficulties in Zhou Xiaomei's family's life, the local government has included the three children who are still in school into the minimum living guarantee, and each of them receives a minimum living allowance of 415 yuan per month.
Because Zhu Shengmin has no ability to compensate, these people are unable to obtain compensation through litigation and live in difficulty. Therefore, in accordance with Article 7(3) of the "Detailed Rules for the People's Procuratorate to Carry out National Judicial Aid Work", the Yujiang District Procuratorate provided assistance to the nine applicants divided into four families in accordance with Article 7(3) of the "Detailed Rules for the People's Procuratorate to Carry Out National Judicial Aid Work", which stipulates that "if a victim of a criminal case is killed by a crime and dies, and a close relative or other person who relies on his income as his main source of livelihood is unable to obtain compensation through litigation, resulting in difficulties in his or her life", the People's Procuratorate shall provide assistance to the nine applicants in four families.
"Comprehensively considering the age of the applicant's family members, the degree of living difficulties, and the specific circumstances such as not receiving compensation, the Jiangxi Provincial Procuratorate, the Yingtan City Procuratorate, and the Yujiang District Procuratorate jointly issued relief funds to 9 applicants." The prosecutor handling the case told reporters.
is still continuing to live a life of "old and young".
At the end of 2023, when the reporter followed the prosecutor of the Yujiang District Procuratorate of Yingtan City to visit Zhou Xiaomei's village, Zhu Shengmin's intentional homicide case had just ended, and she and her family were waiting for the verdict.
What is a little surprising is that Zhou Xiaomei originally lived in a three-story self-built house with her husband, children, and father-in-law, but after the accident, Zhou Xiaomei did not move out, but continued to take care of her children and her father-in-law who had been paralyzed for many years.
"Because Zhou Xiaomei has nowhere to go, after the case, her parents washed their faces with tears every day, grief-stricken, Zhou Xiaomei felt that she had no face to go back to her parents' house, and she didn't dare to go back from the Chinese New Year to the present, and her father-in-law was paralyzed at home, so she could only continue to take care of it." The prosecutor handling the case said.
During the discussion with the prosecutor, the reporter found that although the number of rural women is not small, they are still a group with relatively low social attention, and even the media rarely spends pen and ink on them. When suffering domestic violence, their voices are also difficult to hear, just like Zhou Xiaomei, she has been subjected to domestic violence for a long time, her relatives, father-in-law, neighbors and other villagers have heard her cry when she was beaten many times, and have seen her black and purple face after being beaten, but they have never helped her substantially, and even persuaded her to live a good life, and Zhou Xiaomei has never called the police. With the passage of time, I am afraid that the story of her domestic violence will be forgotten.
"In practice, it is true that domestic violence against rural women is more hidden, and it is more difficult to defend their rights under the law. Rural women need more attention and protection in the hidden corner of domestic violence. The prosecutor handling the case said.
On December 31, 2023, the defendant Zhu Shengmin was sentenced to death by the court of first instance for intentional homicide, and later appealed. As of press time, the second-instance verdict has not yet been pronounced in this case.
(The names of the parties in the case have been changed)
Source: Procuratorate Daily Justice Network