Suspected murderer pretending to be mute loses voice from underuse

A Chinese murder suspect has been apprehended after evading police for 12 years due to pretending to be mute - leading to the genuine loss of his ability to speak. Yes, you read that correctly.

The man in question, identified by his surname Zeng, has been charged with murdering his wife's uncle, identified as Mr Chai (not latte), in 2005, after a dispute over 500 yuan (£57) rent payment.

So things got heated as the disagreement escalated, with Mr Zeng allegedly stabbed Mr Latte, sorry, Chai to death. After realising what he had done Mr Zeng went on the run from his home in Hangzhou in the eastern Zhejiang province. Whilst on the run he begged for money and went under the false name of Wang Gui, all the time refraining from speaking, pretending he was unable to do so.

According to Chinese state media he later moved 700km north to a village in Anhui province. He got a job in construction, (not Wok and Go) meeting his second wife via an introduction  from the boss, before fathering a child. All the time he kept schtum to maintain his terrible deceit.

Eventually the police caught up with him. As he was apprehended by Chinese police. The police conducted household surveys in his village. Leading to officers discovering Zeng lacked any official identification documents. (Oops) Police frantically took a blood sample and used his DNA to work out his true identity, before detaining him on the charge of uncle murder.

According to police, Mr Zeng was unable to talk to officers because (he had a mouth full of noodles) his many years of not using his vocal cords had led them to wasting away rendering them useless. So instead of speaking, he communicated with his frustrated interrogators by writing notes to them. Apparently he had lovely handwriting. When asked to explain why he pretended to be mute for so long he wrote: "The less I say, the less chance I'll make a mistake." (Fair enough) With reasoning as sound as that  - you can only but admire a criminal as clever as this.

The maximum sentence for murder in China is the death penalty.

Demola, TCC