Seven Castles

Xu Ting

                                      

April 20, 2008

 

Xu Ting is a 24-year-old migrant worker from Linfen, Shanxi Province. As a security guard in Guangzhou, he once stood guard at the entrance to the Guangdong Provincial High People's Court, ironically. Like many people, he, too, would like to take every chance to gain advantage. When he went to an ATM on April 21, 2006 to withdraw money, he found that, due to a technical error, his account was only debited 1 yuan for every 1,000 yuan withdrawn. He mentioned this to a friend surnamed Guo and subsequently withdrew 175,000 yuan in 171 transactions while Guo took 18,000 yuan. Guo was jailed for a year after turning himself in. However, after his crime was discovered, Xu was on the run for a year before being caught and sentenced to life for theft on November 20 last year.

 

The case made national headlines and whipped up heated debate in the media and legal circles because many thought the punishment was too severe. Under the unprecedented pressure, the Guangdong Provincial High People's Court then overturned the ruling in January and asked the lower court to hear the case again, saying the November ruling lacked evidence and some facts needed to be clarified.

 

A retrial was started on February 22 in which the prosecutors again charged Xu with stealing from a bank. Xu's lawyers maintained he was innocent. After the retrial, Xu had his sentence slashed to five years. The court convicted Xu of theft and fined him 20,000 yuan, in addition to his five-year jail term. It also demanded that Xu return the "illegally obtained" money to the bank. The results satisfied many who claimed his previous life sentence was too severe.

 

According to the court, the case is unique, and there was no legal precedent to rely on. Under the current criminal law, people who steal 100,000 yuan or more from a financial institution face a life sentence or death. However, the case is very special since Xu stole the money partly because of the malfunctioning machine. That is why Xu finally got a lighter sentence.

 

Though Xu said he would not appeal, his father was not satisfied with the verdict and thought that Xu is innocent. Xu just made a silly mistake, so he should be set free.

 

This case has prompted many to fear ATM malfunctions. Many people expressed worry that a machine may dispense too much money and land them in trouble as well. There was even a same case of ATM theft in Shanghai. 

【作者: zhangliping】【访问统计:】【2008年04月20日 星期日 05:46】【注册】【打印】