A Chinese court ordered a thief's victim to pay him $11,000 (70,000 yuan) after he took it upon himself to stop the attempted robbery by beating him up instead of calling the authorities. The court also sentenced the victim, Yuan, to three months probation, according to the Global Times.
The thief, Zeng, tried to snatch the cell phone of Yuan in Dongguan, but the would-be robber was chased by the victim and two other men. When they caught up to him, the trio beat him up.
Dongguan No. 3 People's Court ruled that Yuan and his co-defendants were criminally liable because they did not report the crime to the police before they took action.
Whether or not Zeng would be charged for the theft was not revealed, according to Agence France-Presse.
The town of Dongguan, located in the southern province of Guangdong in China, is sometimes considered "China's Sin City" for its expansive red-light district, which was the target of a much-publicized crackdown in 2014.
The Communist party of China has highlighted the importance of enhancing the "rule of law" in the country. However, it insists that the justice system "must still ultimately answer to the ruling organization," according to the Daily Mail.
