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Stills from the video showing the woman being hit. The attacker has been detained for eight days and fined 300 yuan. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Moment pregnant woman who stole money from villager's home was tied to pole and beaten unconscious

01 September, 2015

A pregnant woman was tied to a large pole and beaten this weekend after she reappeared in a village in China's eastern Zhejiang province, where she had been caught stealing cash 10 days before.

A video recently shared online showed a young woman with a rounded stomach with her hands bound behind her and tied to the pole. A man is seen pulling her hair, hitting her on the mouth and kicking her. The woman eventually crumples to the ground and appears to be unconscious.

Taizhou’s police bureau, which oversees Hengshanqian village where the incident occurred, confirmed the woman, 28, was beaten after she returned to the village on Saturday. She was caught stealing 900 yuan from a villager’s home last month.

The man who attacked her is being detained for eight days and fined 300 yuan (HK$364). 

After the theft, villagers released her without calling the police because she had given back the money and was an expecting mother, according to a statement issued by the Taizhou police on Weibo.

But when the villagers saw her again, they decided to teach her a lesson. After the attack, she was sent to hospital for treatment and has returned home but is under watch for the earlier theft.

She had been punished on three occasions earlier for similar offences, it added.