Daily Lessons from Life 08 September 2009

"Woman beaten to death at China Wal-Mart Posted: 08 September 2009

BEIJING : A woman in eastern China was allegedly beaten to death by five employees of a Wal-Mart store who accused her of shoplifting, a police report and state media said Tuesday.

Police have arrested two employees from the store in Jiangxi province, while three others are being investigated, Jingdezhen city police said in a report on their website.

According to the report, the woman was beaten outside her home near the Wal-Mart store on August 30 and died in a city hospital on Wednesday last week from injuries suffered during the beating.

Police said the five Wal-Mart employees had stopped the woman in the street and demanded to see her receipt, but she refused because she could not verify their identities, it said.

Following an argument, the five Wal-Mart employees began beating her, it said.

The English-language China Daily on Tuesday identified the victim as Yu Xiaochun, 37.

"They started to hit her because she didn't do what they said," the paper quoted her husband Chen Baolin as saying. "I got there and tried to stop them but they kept beating her."

It was not immediately known if the woman had shoplifted, the paper said. The beating intensified as she tried to telephone for help using her mobile phone, it added.

The Wal-Mart store in Jingdezhen could not be immediately contacted for comment.- AFP"

This is a very sad news. What could have set off these 5 employees (hope there were no women involved here) to beat a woman to death, even if she did shoplift?

This piece of news have far too many pertinent details unknown. Whatever it is, the beating that led to her death simply should not have happened at all!! I am sure the Wal-Mart big bosses must be wondering what the heck happened?

Lessons for me are:

1. while a country progresses economically, the pace of change, when it went too fast, simply displaced the moral value of its people. I hope those employees, if indeed were the people who beaten the woman up, were not thinking they did the right thing and helping the company to recover 'stolen' goods! No company in the world, let alone Wal-Mart will condone due barbaric and brutal behaviors!;

2. what happened to the bystanders when the lady got beaten up and even when her husband tried to rescue her? I understand the need to be cautious when intervening in a fight. However, 5 employess (assuming all of them are male) beating on 1 woman simply cannot be tolerated. This may could have happened in Singapore and I am sure not many people will intervene. Such is the state of affairs in 'developed' cities!;

3. if the 5 persons did caused the death of the woman, and if there is no proof of any thefts, these people should be sent to be hanged! We need to send the right message that taking a life without any concern and consideration will be punished severely. Whenever you use violence on a woman, you must bear the consequences if you got it wrong!

May Wal-Mart and the press follow up on this sad tragedy and let the world know what exactly transpired!

Justice must be served. And so too, truth must be told!