A FORMER deputy headmaster at a school for speech and hearing-impaired students in east China’s Zhejiang Province has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for raping seven female students more than 10-years ago.
The Intermediate People’s Court in the city of Wenzhou sentenced the school official, Zhao Yuhuan, to jail after a trial, the China News Service reported.
Mr Zhao had worked at a school for the speech and hearing impaired in Wencheng County. Seven deaf women who had studied at the school called police last June, to say they were raped by Mr Zhao more than 10-years ago.
Police in Wencheng accompanied the women to Mr Zhao’s home and to the school where they found evidence, he was taken away by police on June 9th, last year and charged with rape. Police said Mr Zhao had confessed to having sex with the students since 1988, when the school was established.
However, the arrest was controversial in the local community, according to media reports. Some locals alleged he had been set up by a property developer who was after the school’s land, while others said a female student had attempted to blackmail Zhao out of 70,000 yuan (€7,300).
There were also reports that a gang of deaf thieves operating in the area had taken revenge on Mr Zhao, who had acted as a sign language interpreter during the investigation into the gang’s activities. One of the accusers in the rape case was a suspect in the criminal investigation of the gang.
However, the court in Wenzhou said the rape allegations had been supported by Mr Zhao’s confession.