Woman doused in liquid attack

By Liang Chen  |   2008-11-14  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

PUTUO District police are searching for a man who poured what may have been acid over a woman's head yesterday and left her with minor burns.

The victim, surnamed Jiang, is about 30 years old and from Jiangsu Province. She was walking on Zhenping Road when a man followed her and suddenly poured a bottle of liquid on her, witnesses said.

Jiang cried for help and the man fled, leaving the bottle on the ground, according to witnesses.

The woman rushed into a nearby store, and the owner said he poured a bucket of water onto her head after seeing black liquid dripping from her hair.

When police reached the scene, they sent the women to Ruijin Hospital. Jiang received treatment there for burns to her head and hands but left the hospital later and refused media interviews.

Police said they were still investigating the case.

Though the motive in yesterday's incident was unclear, past crimes involving acid attacked were often an outgrowth of extramarital affairs or love disputes.

In the most famous case, Yang Yuxia, a Shanghai native, was executed in December 1996 after she poured sulfuric acid on her lover's 8-year-old daughter and his wife.

The girl was blinded and suffered burns to 20 percent of her skin while the wife had burns to 7 percent of her skin.

Yang confessed that she did it because her lover refused to get a divorce and marry her.