Shandong teen to petition high court in rape case
SingTao · 2 SOURCES1 day ago2 MIN
Summary
A 16-year-old boy surnamed Chang in Zaozhuang, Shandong, has had his criminal petition rejected by the Zaozhuang Intermediate People’s Court and his family says it will next petition the Shandong Higher People’s Court over a rape conviction tied to sex with a 14-and-a-half-year-old junior secondary school girl. The boy was sentenced to three years in prison at first instance, and the intermediate court had already dismissed his appeal in February and upheld the original judgment.
Key Points
- Court documents cited by the reports say Chang and the girl, identified by the pseudonym Yan, met through a short-video platform and confirmed a romantic relationship in April 2025
- The first-instance judgment said they met in a pedestrian street in Tengzhou on April 7, and had sex in a room in a residential compound on the morning of April 8.
- The girl’s family found the pair that same morning and called police; both initially denied having sex before later admitting it, after which police opened an investigation
- Chang was criminally detained by Tengzhou police on suspicion of rape and was formally arrested on April 22; he was later convicted and jailed for three years
- The defence argued there was no objective evidence of violence or coercion, cited a witness who saw intimate behaviour without resistance, and said the girl changed her account under family pressure.
- The courts said the girl’s account of the core events remained consistent, that her mental capacity was normal, and that her prompt disclosure to family reduced the likelihood of a false accusation
- The Zaozhuang Intermediate People’s Court said the original conviction and sentence were not improper and that the case did not meet the conditions for a retrial, so the petition was rejected.
Why It Matters
The case is drawing legal and public debate on how courts assess consent, credibility and evidential gaps when both parties are minors and the defence says the relationship was voluntary. With the family now planning to petition the Shandong Higher People’s Court, the matter remains live and may continue to attract scrutiny over how such cases are reviewed after appeal and post-conviction petition procedures.