Mother Kept Mentally Ill Son Shackled in Home-made Cage for More Than a Decade

A mother has spoken of her torment after being forced to keep her mentally ill son shackled in a home-made cage for more than a decade: Wang Muxiang, 74, locked away her schizophrenic son Wu Yuanhong after he murdered a 13-year-old boy in his village in China in 2001.

Wu was released from jail a year later as authorities ruled that his illness meant he was not legally responsible for his actions.

But his mother feared he would kill again so caged him in an empty room in the family home.

Heart-rending images now show 42-year-old Wu sitting on blankets in the narrow enclosure with his feet shackled to a heavy chain and wearing only a T-shirt and underwear.

He is given three meals a day by his mother, who gives him a pan when he needs to go to the toilet.

After he was released from jail, he was chained up but repeatedly escaped and scared residents as he walked around Lijiachong village near Ruichang, south east China.

His mother asked local blacksmiths to weld a cage but they refused, fearing that Wu might attack them if he escaped. So Mrs Wang was forced to do it herself.

She said: "My son may be insane, and beat someone to death, but he's still my son.

"To use my own hands to place him in a cage was very hard to take, like being stabbed with a knife.

"Every time I delivered food, I would sit at his cage and cry. Now my tears are dried up."

Many mentally ill people in China go without proper treatment due to a lack of resources and qualified professionals, particularly in rural areas.

There were only around 20,000 psychiatrists to serve the country's population of 1.35billion, according to the country’s Ministry of Health in 2010.