In Yunnan Province, a woman from Zhenxiong County has been suffering domestic violence from her husband for a long time. Despite multiple attempts to file for divorce in court, her appeals have all been rejected. In May of this year, her husband stabbed her parents-in-law severely with a knife in the middle of the night, sparking strong public criticism towards the inaction of the judicial department.
According to reports from The Paper, in 2009, a 15-year-old girl named Xiaofang (pseudonym) met a 27-year-old man named Chen through an introduction and they began living together. Over the following 12 years, the couple had four children. It wasn’t until November 2022, in order to register their children, that they finally obtained a marriage certificate.
Before marriage, Chen would often quarrel over trivial matters and threaten Xiaofang and her relatives. Xiaofang said, “Just a couple of arguments and he would start making threats, like ‘I will kill your whole family.'”
In 2023, after being domestically abused by Chen during an argument, Xiaofang decided to divorce. In January 2024, she filed for divorce with the Zhenxiong County court citing domestic violence and gambling as reasons. On April 30 of the same year, Chen wrote a guarantee letter in front of local authorities promising to change his ways, but he continued to intimidate Xiaofang in private. Out of fear, Xiaofang withdrew her lawsuit.
One day in December 2024, in the early hours of the morning, Xiaofang sent a distress signal to the police, stating, “I am in danger now. Please come and save me without letting him know. Do not reply. He is holding a knife and watching me.” At the end of the month, she filed for divorce again and applied for a personal safety protection order.
On April 29, 2025, the Zhenxiong County court ruled in the first instance that due to the couple “having four children together and a foundation of affection,” the divorce was not granted.
Unsatisfied, Xiaofang appealed to the Zhaotong Intermediate Court and submitted multiple police report receipts as evidence, proving that Chen had repeatedly threatened and intimidated her and her family. She also included video evidence of Chen beating up her brother. On September 4 of the same year, the second instance of the Zhaotong Intermediate Court rejected the appeal on the grounds of “insufficient evidence to prove a breakdown in marriage,” upholding the original judgment.
Following the ruling, Xiaofang went into hiding and on March 4 of this year, submitted an application for a retrial to the Yunnan High Court. However, before the retrial result was known, around 2 a.m. on May 7, Chen climbed over a wall into Xiaofang’s parents-in-law’s home and stabbed the two elderly people while they were asleep, causing severe injuries. Both elderly individuals were assessed as “serious injuries of Grade 2.”
Chen was captured three days after the incident and was arrested on suspicion of intentional homicide.
On September 24, the Yunnan High Court made a retrial ruling, stating that Chen causing severe injuries to Xiaofang’s parents-in-law during the retrial process was sufficient evidence to prove that the marital relationship had truly broken down. The court instructed the Zhaotong Intermediate Court to initiate a retrial of this divorce dispute case, dissolve the marriage between Xiaofang and Chen, and handle the custody of the children and division of property.
Relatives of Xiaofang expressed that the previous judgments by the county and municipal courts ignored the facts of Chen’s long-term domestic violence and intimidation. They also mentioned that the family had called for help through dozens of police reports before the incident, none of which were taken seriously, leading to the current tragedy. The family is demanding accountability from relevant public officials.
The incident has garnered attention from netizens, with one commenting, “Ah, the sadness of the world. If the court had handled it earlier, it might have prevented the situation from developing unfavorably.”