This mum thought she had been reunited with her kidnapped child only to find out she had been given someone’s tot when the kidnapper turned up at her home 23 years later.
The gigantic blunder was revealed last January when Zhu Xiaojuan’s biological son and the woman who had kidnapped him showed up on her doorstep, leading to the realisation that she had been raising someone else’s child all along.
The 54-year-old’s lawsuit through the Chongqing Yuzhong People’s Court in south-western China demands 2,958,000 RMB (336,845 GBP) of the Henan Higher People’s Court, reports revealed on 4th June.
However, the Henan provincial high court in Central China is reportedly only willing to offer the aggrieved mother 120,000 RMB (13,665 GBP) in compensation.
Zhu’s claim includes 1 million RMB (113,660 GBP) for ‘mental suffering’.
This follows revelations last year that the court botched a maternity test in 1995, three years after Zhu reported her 15-month-old son kidnapped from her Chongqing home by her then nanny, He Xiaoping.
Authorities in Henan found an abducted boy fitting the physical description of Zhu’s son, and a high court DNA examination falsely confirmed their biological match, according to reports.
In January 2018, however, her former nanny, now 48, arrived to return her kidnapped son, who she had raised as her own and named the youngster Liu Jinxin.
The child raised by Zhu was in fact a youngster found during a child trafficking case who authorities believed was Zhu’s son as a result of a botched DNA test.
The kidnapping case was reopened and DNA tests redone, leading to the discovery of Henan high court’s grave mistake, according to local media.
Zhu, who divorced in 2008, said: “Because of the false report, I stopped looking for my own son and raised a stranger’s boy.”
She added: “And he also missed the chance to be reunited with his own biological parents.”
The Henan High People’s Court has since apologised to Zhu but was not willing to offer the compensation she demanded.
It has expressed a desire to reach an amicable conclusion, with the case expected to drag on due to the lack of legal precedent in the country.
The nanny, who was aged just 22 at the time, is currently under house arrest, Zhu said, but it is unclear whether she has been formally charged with any crimes.
The nanny revealed that before kidnapping the boy, she had given birth to two sons, both of whom had died before their first birthday.
When she finally got married and had a child of her own, she thought about returning Zhu’s son but decided against it because she was afraid of going to jail.
Both Zhu and the Henan high court are still filing court documents. A date for their hearing has yet to be set.
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Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
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