Teen Girl Kills Mom After Suffering Abuse at Internet Addiction Boot Camp in China

A teenager starved her own mother to death in China after reportedly going through a tough time at an internet addiction boot camp that her mom had sent her to.

The suspect claimed that during her stay at the treatment center in Shandong province, she was always beaten and treated harshly. She was able to escape after four months.

Her parents reportedly were too concerned for the girl after she had dropped out of school due to her excessive internet habits. To curb her behavior, an aunt then suggested to send her to the camp. After the girl escaped, she exacted revenge to her mom immediately.

According to The Paper (via The Washington Post), the 16-year-old girl killed her mother by tying her to a chair for a full week and starving her to death.

The girl even took some photos and video clips of her mother tied up in the chair, and demanded thousands of dollars from her aunt before she could let her mother go. The aunt obliged and sent the demanded money, but the mother was already dying at that time.

The day after the crime was committed, the daughter reportedly surrendered to the local police.

More than 7,000 teenagers who were previously internet addicts have reportedly been rehabilitated by the said boot camp in Jinan in its 20 years of operations, its administrator claimed.

Such camps have long been criticized in China for their military-style discipline enforced on teenagers, with many questioning the legal basis of their often harsh treatment of youngsters.

Yet for some desperate Chinese parents, they see the camps as the only viable solution for instilling discipline to their rebellious, internet-addicted children.