A MAN escorting a child home was attacked by a group of strangers in Bao’an District on Saturday evening.

    The man, surnamed Jiang, said he found the boy crying in the street. He was bringing the boy home when a group attacked him, believing he was kidnapping the child.

    “He just kept crying for his mother. I asked him where his home was and he pointed across the street, so I told him I’d bring him across,” said Jiang.

    Jiang was walking to work when he found the boy at around 8 p.m. Saturday. He led the boy across the street and down Shajing Road.

    A man came out from a snack shop and hit Jiang in the face before Jiang could say anything. The man said Jiang was a child trafficker and continued the attack. A group of people soon formed and joined the attack.

    “A dozen people were beating me, accusing me of being a children trafficker,” Jiang said.

    Jiang’s back and legs were left bruised from the beating.

    Police officers in Bao’an District said there was no evidence that Jiang had ever kidnapped a child or engaged in human trafficking. Jiang works as a cleaner at a bus station that is across the road from the boy’s home.

    The police said they were still checking whether Jiang could have been kidnapping the child.

    The owner of the snack shop, surname Liu, said the boy is his cousin’s child, but he didn’t take part in the attack. Liu added that the shop was full of customers when the incident took place, and most of the attackers were strangers and did not know the boy.

    Liu contacted the boy’s parents and called the police after the attack began.

    The child’s parents do not believe Jiang was trying to help the boy get home, which is only 50 meters from where Jiang was attacked. The boy’s mother, surname Liang, said she left her son in the snack shop.

    “I was in a panic when my boy disappeared,” Liang said. “He was nowhere to be found, then I heard that he was kidnapped.”

    Surveillance footage shows that the boy walked alone towards where Jiang found him around 8:10 p.m. Saturday.

    Jiang’s colleagues said they feel sorry for him and think he was trying to help, but they said the way he handled the situation was thoughtless. Jiang said he wouldn’t do a good deed again.

    “If the police finally say he isn’t a child trafficker, I’m willing to apologize,” said Liang.

    (Zhang Yang)