Stepmother mercilessly beats 12-year-old girl regularly with coat hanger until she ran out of tears

For children not from their own womb, some depraved stepmothers have disquieting methods of 'disciplining' them.

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A 12-year-old child in Yibin Sichuan whose stepmother had allegedly cruelly beaten her with a coat hanger repeatedly was emancipated from her parents on the 25th of August after being rescued by a passerby.

Ms Zhong, the passerby who rescued the girl (Video screencap)

The woman who helped the girl, named Ms Zhong, saw her bowing her head on the street and went to ask if she was alright. Only then did the story of her abuse come into the light of public attention. Ms Zhong said: "[The girl] said she cried so much that no more tears can come out of her eyes anymore; her stepmother's beatings have become as routine as eating a meal."

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Ms Zhong took the poor girl back to her store, where she noticed the girl's scar. To take a better look at her injuries, Ms Zhong took off the girl's clothes, revealing appaling streaks of reddish purplish streaks of bloody scars on her back. Her arms and shoulders were also swollen from beating, and her face also suffered injuries.

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When the store owner asked the girl where the injuries came from, she answered, "It's my stepmother who hit me."

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When interviewed by reporters, Ms Zhong said, "After I took [the girl] into my store for refuge, I opened up her clothes, and a lot of her, including private parts, were severely damaged.

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"When the child described how she was abused to me, she was very calm throughout. She said that she had already gotten used to the beatings, and it was as commonplace as eating a meal."

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The abused girl said during an interview, "[My stepmother] sometimes hits me with a coat hanger, at times on my mouth.

The girl being interviewed, where she talks about her stepmother abusing her (Video screencap)

"One time when I forgot to bring my little brother along with me to the playground, she (the stepmother) bent me over, hung me up on the windowsill and beat me up, then left me there hanging for the entire night."

The girl's biological mother being interviewed (Video screencap)

The police were alerted of this incident by Ms Zhong. Authorities state that the girl had accused her stepmother of child abuse, therefore, the police believe the stepmother is unfit to have guardianship over the girl ever again.

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After the girl was brought to the police station, her biological mother was contacted, who rushed to the station to pick her daughter up. The case is still under investigation.

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The girl's biological mother pointed out that she had been divorced from her ex-husband for 11 years. She had always known that the girl's stepmother was 'more demanding', but she "didn't know it was so serious". She stressed, "I'll do whatever it takes to get legal custody over my daughter, never back to [her father and stepmother], it's too dangerous.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis judge on Monday awarded nearly $23.5 million to a former police officer who was beaten by colleagues while working undercover during a protest.

Luther Hall was badly injured in the 2017 attack during one of several protests that followed the acquittal of Jason Stockley, a former St. Louis officer, on a murder charge that stemmed from the shooting death of a Black man.

Hall previously settled a separate lawsuit with the city for $5 million. In 2022, he sued three former colleagues — Randy Hays, Dustin Boone and Christopher Myers — for their roles in the attack.

Hays never responded to the lawsuit despite being served while he was in prison on a civil rights violation, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. A judge issued a default judgment in favor of Hall in February and heard testimony Monday about why Hall should receive damages.

Hall's claims against Boone and Myers are still pending.

Hall, in court on Monday, talked about the severe physical and emotional damages that followed the beating. He suffered several herniated discs and a jaw injury that left him unable to eat. He developed gallstones with complications, requiring surgeries.

“Mr. Hall had to endure this severe beating and while that was happening, he knew it was being administered by his colleagues who were sworn to serve and protect,” Circuit Judge Joseph Whyte said.

Hays was not at the hearing. He was sentenced to more than four years in prison in 2021 and is in the custody of the St. Louis Residential Reentry Management Office, which supervises people who have been released from prison and are serving time on home confinement or in halfway houses. He has one year to contest the judgment.

The attack happened on Sept. 17, 2017, days after Stockley was acquitted in the fatal shooting of 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith on Dec. 20, 2011. Hall was walking back toward police headquarters when his uniformed colleagues ordered him to put up his hands and get on the ground, then beat him.

Hays, Boone, Myers and another officer, Bailey Colletta, were indicted in 2018 in connection with Hall’s injuries. A fifth officer, Steven Korte, was indicted on a civil rights charge and another count of lying to the FBI.

Boone was convicted of a civil rights charge and sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison. Meyers received probation after pleading guilty to a single felony charge. Colletta received probation for lying to the FBI and a grand jury about the attack. Korte was acquitted.

In addition to the settlement with Hall, the city of St. Louis last year paid nearly $5.2 million over allegations that police violated the rights of dozens of people by capturing them in a police “kettle” and arresting them. Some said they were beaten, pepper-sprayed and attacked with stun guns in various downtown protests after the Stockley verdict.

St. Louis Police Officer Randy Hays exits the federal courthouse following his first court appearance, Nov. 30, 2018, in St. Louis, Mo. Hays was one of three officers charged with kicking and beating Luther Hall. A St. Louis judge on Monday, April 15, 2024, awarded nearly $23.5 million to Hall, a former police officer who was beaten by colleagues while working undercover during a 2017 protest. In 2022, Hall sued Hays, Dustin Boone and Christopher Myers for their roles in the attack. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Hays never responded to the lawsuit. (Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

Luther Hall speaks with news reporters in the KMOV TV studio in St. Louis, Mo., on April 6, 2022. A St. Louis judge on Monday, April 15, 2024, awarded nearly $23.5 million to Hall, a former police officer who was beaten by colleagues while working undercover during a 2017 protest. (Hillary Levin/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)