Screenshot of the publicly announcement of the engagement rape case.
The Intermediate People's Court of Datong in North China's Shanxi Province publicly announced its second-instance verdict on Wednesday regarding a widely discussed rape case. The court dismissed the appeal and upheld the original judgment of a three-year prison sentence for a man convicted of raping his fiancée shortly after their engagement.
The second-instance court found that on January 30, 2023, the appellant, surnamed Xi, and the victim were introduced by a local matchmaking agency and established a relationship. On May 1, they became engaged. On the afternoon of May 2, the man forcibly had sexual intercourse with the victim despite her resistance, according to a release from the court on its Wechat account.
The second-instance court believed that the appellant's actions constituted rape, as he violated the victim's will. Considering the relationship between the man and the victim, as well as the fact that he voluntarily went to the police station for investigation upon being notified by the police via phone following the victim's report, the first-instance court appropriately imposed a lighter sentence. Accordingly, the second-instance court ruled to dismiss the appeal and uphold the original judgement.
On Wednesday, the second-instance verdict was also issued in the case concerning the property dispute over the engagement. The court dismissed the man's demand for the return of 100,000 yuan ($13,608) in betrothal gifts and two rings, noting that the victim had already returned them, but the man refused to accept them.
Meanwhile, the court addressed key issues, including the grounds for the rape conviction, the main evidence supporting the determination of the rape, and the dispute over the betrothal gifts, according to Xinhua on Wednesday.
Regarding the basis for the rape conviction, the presiding judge stated that the victim had explicitly opposed premarital sex beforehand, showed clear resistance during the incident, and reacted strongly afterward, which sufficiently proved that the man had forced sexual intercourse against her will.
As for the main evidence, the judge explained that forensic analysis confirmed the presence of semen stains and mixed DNA profiles from both the man and the victim on the bedsheet, Xinhua reported.
Regarding the question of whether the victim's intact hymen affected the rape determination, the judge noted that the condition of the hymen cannot prove whether sexual intercourse occurred, a consensus by the medical community both domestically and internationally. Moreover, hymen status cannot serve as evidence to confirm or deny rape, as clarified in China's judicial documents and precedents, Xinhua reported.
According to chinanews.com, the case drew attention when the woman accused the appellant of rape just one day after their engagement. On December 25, 2024, the People's Court of Yanggao County in Datong sentenced the appellant to three years in prison for rape in the first-instance trial, after which he appealed the verdict.
On March 25, 2025, the second-instance trial was held at the Intermediate People's Court of Datong behind closed doors, with no verdict announced in court, chinanews.com reported.
Before the second-instance trial, the appellant's mother contested the verdict, citing the hymen examination and lack of semen evidence, according to CCTV News.
Global Times
