Boy held over cutting hands off dad

By Annie Huang  |   2009-9-30  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A TAIWAN boy, 17, has been arrested for chopping off his father's hands, allegedly to avenge years of abuse.

The boy cut through his father's wrists with a knife while he was asleep at the family's home in central Miaoli on Monday, a police official said yesterday.

The 37-year-old father, a divorced ironsmith, was in a stable condition after doctors reattached his severed hands, the official said.

The father and son were identified only by their surname of Fan.

The official said the boy admitted cutting his father's hands off and showed no remorse, complaining he was beaten after refusing to get a job while attending school.

The Apple Daily newspaper quoted the boy as telling police that since his mother left home some 10 years before, his father had frequently beat him and thrown things at him.

The boy said he bought a knife and planned to kill his father after being reprimanded for refusing to work and being denied an allowance, the report said.

The boy has been handed over to a juvenile court.