A Chinese woman has discovered that the husband she believed to be a People’s Armed Police officer was, in fact, a convicted murderer who had assumed a false identity. -- Photo: SCMP composite/Shutterstock
BEIJING (SCMP): A Chinese woman who thought she married and had a child with a People’s Armed Police (PAP) officer found out seven years later that he was in fact a convicted murderer.
In 2014, a woman in northern China’s Hebei province, who uses the pseudonym Pang, married a PAP officer, Jia Bin, who had been introduced to her by her uncle.
The couple soon had a son but Jia spent a dwindling amount of time at home, saying he was on “special missions”.
He initially disappeared for days, then for months before completely vanishing in 2017.
China’s People’s Armed Police is a paramilitary force responsible primarily for internal security, riot control, counterterrorism and maritime law enforcement. The force provides support to the People’s Liberation Army during wartime.
Pang said she did not check Jia’s personal documents fearing it might anger him. She also dared not contact the “unit” he said he belonged to.
Pang added that she grew up in a single-parent family and wanted her child to grow up with a father.
In 2020 she filed for divorce with the local court.
It was then that she was told that Jia Bin does not exist.
When they registered for marriage, the man submitted only his military identification and a certificate from his unit, which were enough according to the regulations. These documents turned out to be fake.
A member of staff with a marriage registration office said they did not have the skills to verify documents in 2014.
Only his “sister” showed up at their wedding. He lied that his father was dead.
In 2021, Pang received a phone call from a prison, telling her that her husband is a man called Tu Jinli, who had been convicted of murder and fraud and handed a suspended death sentence.
Tu also already had a wife and child.
Tu murdered a man in a fight in 2011 in another city in Hebei and escaped to the city where Pang lived.
He faked the identity of a PAP officer to prevent people from questioning his real identity and scammed money out of people.
One of the women who was scammed reported the matter to the police.
Officers then discovered his murder conviction, tracked him down via surveillance footage and arrested him in 2017.
The court convicted Tu in 2020. He was reportedly stung by his conscience in prison and told Pang his true identity.
Pang said she was disgusted by the fact that she married a murderer and had a son with him.
Last year, after going through extensive administrative procedures, Pang finally had her marriage annulled.
“It shocked me that she was fine not knowing about him at all for years but willing to have a child with him,” an online observer said.
“What kind of uncle is that to introduce a man like this to his niece?” said another.
“What is really scary is they got married with fake IDs. Marriage is too easy and divorce is too hard,” said a third. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
