A man in Shaanxi, China has been detained for his savage beating of a two-year-old boy on the street.
Surveillance video footage shows the toddler sweeping outside a restaurant when the man strolls over and kicks him down. The footage, which has gone viral, shows the man stomping on the boy's head 13 times, and then hitting him 11 times with the broom and eight times with the dustpan.
Throughout this attack, one person passes on a motorcycle and another walks by. Neither stops to help. The attack lasts 36 seconds before people from inside the restaurant rush outside to help. Some push the attacker aside and hold him while others surround the boy. Finally, one man scoops up the injured and unconscious child and rushes him out of frame.
Warning: the video contains violence and images that some viewers may find disturbing. Viewer discretion advised.
The official Shaanxi province police department's Weibo account says the boy’s skull has been fractured, but he is in a stable condition and recovering in hospital. He is expected to recover in two to three months.
According to the Yan’an city police department, the 29-year-old attacker has a history of mental illness. State broadcaster China National Radio reports that the man is schizophrenic.
The viral video has prompted a flood of negative comments online, with some calling the attacker a beast and others saying such inhuman behaviour must be heavily punished.
According to the police, the attacker had been declared by a local psychiatric hospital to be a schizophrenic, but was receiving at-home treatment.
The hospital says most families preferred caring for family members with mental illnesses at home, with medical staff visiting those with severe mental illnesses four times a year to ensure they were stable.
The hospital claims the man seemed to be recovering when they last visited him in March.
The hospital is accused by internet users of negligence, the report said.