Photo: Screenshot of a video online

Public attention has once again been drawn to a case in which a woman in Hengyang, Central China's Hunan Province, filed five applications for divorce in five years, after her allegedly violent husband was reported to have been recently arrested for threatening to murder her family. 

Ning Shunhua, a woman in her 40s who has been haunted by years of domestic violence from her gambling-addicted husband, began her quest to end the marriage in December 2016. 

However, her request was denied four times by the court due to insufficient evidence and the reluctance of her husband Chen Dinghua, said a statement from the People's Court of Hengyang County.

Following Ning's fifth application for divorce in March, Chen, who had been previously detained five times for gambling and violence, allegedly threatened multiple times to kill Ning's brother and other family members in order to stop the divorce. He was taken into custody for 10 days on Saturday, reported the Paper on Monday. 

Ning said that Chen used to act aggressively during the divorce proceedings and the court had reportedly issued two safety protection orders for Ning, but her attempt to divorce him has still not succeeded, which has really disappointed her. "I just want to be free from him," she told the media. 

Ning's case has received wide attention from the public, including the local women's federation and netizens. The topic ranked third on the trending of China's Twitter-like social media Sina Weibo on Monday. 

Her fifth application for divorce is still pending, said the report.