Not guilty!, The court ruled: In self-defense, a woman stabbed her husband three times to protect her son | Fruit Knife | Court
On June 15th, the Supreme People's Court released the top ten typical cases of domestic violence in China to the public. One of the cases showed a mother stabbing her abusive husband with a fruit knife to protect her postoperative son from serious injury. The court declared that the mother was not guilty.
The case shows that Qiu and her husband Zhang were separated due to emotional discord and long-term domestic violence. The son of the two, Zhang Mouyi, is a 9-year-old with congenital malformation and hearing loss in the right ear. After three surgical treatments, autologous rib cartilage was taken to reconstruct the right auricle. He was discharged on June 5, 2019.
On the evening of July 2nd of the same year, Qiu and Zhang had multiple disputes and entanglements over the divorce issue. At around 1am the next day, Zhang went to his wife and children's residence to harass him again, insulting and beating Qiu. Later, he pressed his son onto the bed, knelt down on his legs, and punched his buttocks, causing him to cry and struggle. Qiu, in order to prevent Zhang Yi's ear from being damaged during surgery, tried to stop it with his bare hands without success. In a hurry, he used a fruit knife from his head to stab Zhang A's back three times. Subsequently, Zhang Moujia was immediately sent to the hospital for treatment by riding an electric bike. After appraisal, the degree of damage to Zhang Moujia is level two serious injury.
The procuratorial organs have prosecuted Qiu for intentional injury. The court's effective judgment holds that it is a legitimate defense and does not bear criminal responsibility.
In this case, Qiu was harassed and harassed by her husband Zhang Moujia during his separation due to a marital dispute, and he and his child were beaten by Zhang Moujia until early in the morning. In order to prevent damage to Zhang's reconstructed auricle after less than a month of surgery, Qiu's act of stabbing Zhang with a fruit knife, while attempting to stop Zhang's violent assault with bare hands, met the conditions for legitimate defense. At the same time, based on factors such as the environment in which the defender is located, the level of danger they face, the measures taken to stop violence, the severity of domestic violence being committed by the perpetrator, the degree of significant damage caused to the perpetrator, and a history of domestic violence, a comprehensive judgment should be made. It should be determined that Qiu's legitimate defense behavior did not exceed the necessary limit and he should not bear criminal responsibility. The court declared Qiu innocent in accordance with the law.
