The 30 year old Chinese woman known as Lamu on TikTok, was set a blaze by her ex-husband while live streaming on TikTok. She suffered 90% burns and died two weeks later. This was a brutal form of domestic violence against women which fueled an outrage across China.
Lamu was a TikToker and shared the country side life on her TikTok. She loved to share videos on the treasures of the mountains in the rural area. She had over 770k followers on her TikTok. She claimed that she would have wished to live in the city, but preferred living by her father’s side.
The husband known as Tang was found guilty of intentional homicide, and was handed down a death penalty. According to CCTV news, Lamu divorced her husband in 2009. The mother of two was streaming live to her audience when Tang dumped gasoline and set her on fire. The ex husband then fled, but was arrested the same night.
The incidence that occurred around 10:30pm on June 14th 2020 at her father’s home has sparked outrage in China on domestic violence against women. Cases of domestic violence against women are normal in China as police officers release perpetrators of domestic violence without trial, hindering the efforts to end it.
This was a horrific experience even to her audience who were watching her livestream, during this incidence that brought her father’s house down. The father is currently living in an elderly home.
The court sentenced Tang to death penalty and ordered him to compensate her ex wife’s family. The court termed the homicide as extremely cruel, and deserved severe punishment. Tang had a history of domestic violence of beating his ex wife on several occasions before the 2020 divorce 2nd time.
China enacted nationwide domestic violence law in 2015, which prohibits physical and emotional abuse. This was perceived as a groundbreaking legislation towards protecting victims of domestic violence.
China had also enacted a law a few months to Lhamo death, requiring divorcing couples to undergo a one month “cooling off”. But this was seen as endangering victims of violence, continuing to live together with the abuser for a month long.