For evil deeds committed by minors under the age of 14, the legal guardian must bear the corresponding civil compensation liability and bear the consequences for the harm caused by the "evil child" to others.
Verdict in civil lawsuit against a 13-year-old boy in Dalian for killing a 10-year-old girl: 1.28 million in damages
On the afternoon of October 20, 2019, a horrific intentional homicide case occurred in Shahekou District of Dalian City, when a 10-year-old girl was killed by Cai Moumou, a 13-year-old teenager living in the same community, on her way home from school from the training class, and threw away the body in the bushes of the community. Because Cai Moumou was not pursued for criminal responsibility because he was under the age of 14, he was taken into custody and reeducation by the public security organs for three years.
On August 10, the matter was updated: the parents of the victimized girl obtained a first-instance judgment in a civil lawsuit made by the Shahekou District Court in Dalian City, and Cai's parents compensated the victim's family 1286024 yuan and publicly apologized to the girl's mother and family in the Liaoning provincial print media (the content of the apology needs to be reviewed by the court).
The court's judgment mentioned that Cai Moumou's motive for killing the girl was to rape, and after being refused, he committed the evil act of killing and throwing away the body, and the means of committing the crime were extremely bad. Combined with previous media reports, the boy after the murder also "live" searched the scene video in the class QQ group, which shows that he has no remorse, and his indifference is shocking.
Cai Moumou is 2 months old and 14 years old, 1.75 meters tall, weighing more than 140 pounds, which is no different from adults. In the face of such extremely vicious criminal cases, the public cannot help but worry about whether the custody and correctional system can play an adequate disciplinary role.
Within the existing legal framework, minors under the age of 14 are not incapacitated and are not criminally responsible. According to the principle of criminal law, Cai Moumou really cannot be punished by the criminal law. However, the perpetrator may be "exonerated" by age, but the atrocity itself must be torted by its guardian.
The punishment for acts with heinous circumstances, which is only "three years of custody and reeducation", is obviously difficult to say that the punishment is "equivalent to the punishment" compared with the endless pain endured by the victim's family.
In such cases, the guardian of the "evil child" has no way to teach his children and is unruly. Just as the Dalian Shahekou District Court carried out the "legal condemnation" in the judgment - "Defendant Cai XX's parents lacked attention to Cai XX's character development and behavior performance, neglected guidance and education, so that they ignored the law, disregarded life, and deliberately committed homicides, and the parents of defendant Cai XX failed to fulfill their guardianship responsibilities and should bear tort liability for the damage caused by defendant Cai XX's tortious acts." ”
Since the occurrence of the case, Cai's parents have never contacted the family of the murdered girl, have never expressed basic apologies, and have not appeared in court to respond to the lawsuit. Such a performance is really difficult to accept.
The local court upheld the civil lawsuit claim of the victim's family, ordered the abuser's family to compensate 1.28 million yuan and publicly apologized, adhering to the correct value orientation and maintaining the bottom line of social morality. It also provides a model for such cases to seek the manifestation of social justice through the use of civil procedure.
Of course, the court's judgment on civil compensation is only the first step, and the follow-up needs to increase the intensity of enforcement, and the judgment cannot be reduced to a blank piece of paper, and the victim's family must be returned to justice.
Court adjudication shall take into account both legal justice and social justice, and realize the organic combination of legal reasoning. For evil deeds committed by minors under the age of 14, the legal guardian must bear the corresponding civil compensation liability, pay the price for the negligence of guardianship, and bear the consequences for the harm caused by the "evil child" to others.
Families with "bear children" should also learn from the case. Pay attention to the character development and behavior performance of children in their growth, timely guide and educate, can not indulge in "small evil" into "big evil", vigilance against "bear children" becoming "evil children", and eventually lead to irreparable evil consequences.
Source: Xinhua Daily Telegraph