Photo: Sina Weibo

A 13-year-old boy in Handan, North China’s Hebei Province, who had been suffering long-term bullying from his three classmates, was reportedly killed by the classmates and buried in an abandoned vegetable shed on Sunday. The three suspects have been arrested by the local police, Xinhuanghe news portal of Jinan Daily reported on Wednesday. 

An investigation team has been dispatched to verify if the boy, a middle school student from Feixiang district, had suffered bullying at the school, the local education authority in Handan said. 

The victim, named Xiao Guang (pseudonym), was bullied and killed by his three classmates at 5 pm on Sunday. His body was buried in an abandoned vegetable shed not far from the home of one of the three suspects. 

An official from the Zhangzhuang village told the Xinhuanghe news portal that the three suspects have been caught by the local police and the local public security bureau said that the case is being dealt with. 

According to the victim’s father surnamed Wang, the boy left home at around 1 pm on Sunday and lost contact with his family around 5 pm. The boy’s family members searched for him for five hours until 10 pm but there was no sign of his whereabouts. 

After receiving the alarm, the police found through surveillance that Xiao Guang was hanging out with three male students, who unanimously denied that they had met the boy. 

By checking Xiao Guang’s WeChat messages, the father found that his son had transferred some money to one of the three suspects. 

Facing with the evidence of surveillance and money transferring records, the three students admitted that Xiao Guang was buried in the abandoned vegetable shed. 

Wang expressed deep grief when the boy’s body was recovered and his face had been badly destroyed by the shovel, according to the report of Xinhuanghe. 

Wang was shocked that the three students, aged 13 or 14, were not only suspected of killing his son, but also buried and attempted to damage his body. 

Xiao Guang was a nice boy with good temper and character and he loved to help his parents with house chores, Wang said. 

Wang said Xiao Guang had previously expressed his reluctance to go to school but the parents did not take it seriously and did not realize that the boy had been bullied for a long time at school. 

Global Times