A 20-YEAR-OLD woman who worked at a nightclub in Shenzhen was raped by a customer in August last year, but she changed her testimony and told police that she hadn’t been raped after taking 200,000 yuan (US$28,986) from the suspect, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

    The woman, identified as Ling, worked as a waitress at the nightclub in Luohu District. The suspect, identified as Qiang, was a regular customer at the nightclub and he raped Ling in a karaoke room’s toilet. Ling’s head hit the wall and her brow ridge was injured when she resisted Qiang, according to the prosecutors.

    Later Ling reported the case to police, and Qiang turned himself in to police.

    However, Qiang’s family approached Ling and promised her financial compensation if she changed her testimony and told police that she had consensual sex with Qiang. Ling refused, and Qiang’s family raised their compensation offer to 200,000 yuan.

    Ling is from an impoverished region in northern Guangdong, and as her family was in urgent need of money to pay for her parents’ medical fees, cover the construction of the family’s house and repay a debt, she eventually gave in. After receiving 200,000 yuan from Qiang’s family, she changed her testimony to police.

    Police noticed something fishy, as it had taken a month for the victim to change her mind. After an investigation, police detained Ling for shielding a criminal.

    According to the procurators, Ling took the money because her family had been in urgent need of money, but she didn’t have a criminal record and she confessed to police in a timely manner without causing any severe consequences.

    Considering Ling’s family had returned 130,000 yuan to police, and that Ling was a rape victim and showed repentance for what she had done, the procurators decided not to bring charges against her. Ling promised that she would abide by the law and do her best to repay society.

    “Actively saving a victim who fell into a wrong path was more valuable than punishing her,” one of the procurators said.

    (Zhang Yang)