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Vietnam supermarket staffers humiliate child thief, later apologize to her

Vietnam supermarket staffers humiliate child thief, later apologize to her

Monday, April 21, 2014, 18:45 GMT+7

A photo capturing a middle school student, with her hands tied to a railing, wearing a paper board that reads “I am a thief” and standing in a supermarket has been circulated on the Internet, causing a big uproar on social networks recently.

The girl in the photo has been identified as 12-year-old S., a student at Chu Van An Middle School in Chu Se District in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai.

On April 10, S. and some of her friends went to Vi Yen supermarket where S. intended to buy two comic books worth VND20,000 (US$1) in total but realized that she did not have money.

“I liked the books very much so I hid them inside my coat to bring them home,” she told the story in fear.

S. said the alarm then rang when she walked through the gate of the supermarket with the two books, and the little girl was detained by four supermarket staff members. One of them asked her, “Did you steal something from the supermarket?”, started searching her, and found out the two books.

The staff forced S. to write down her name, school, parents, without forgetting to threaten to call the police if she did not cooperate.

Receiving no response from S., two female employees held S.’s hands for another to tie them to a railing at the main entrance of the supermarket.

Around two minutes later, another female staff member came and stuck the paper board with the above sentence on S.’s belly while a supermarket employee, Hai, took pictures of her to post on Facebook “just for fun,” as he explained later.

“There were many people seeing them do all this to me at the time; they told the staffers to let me go but they did not agree. I felt so embarrassed then,” S. recounted.

After the incident, S.’s parents said many people called them to criticize that they do not know how to educate their kid.

“I don’t approve of my daughter’s action but it might be because she liked the books too much and didn’t have money so she was out of her mind and stole the books,” Dung, S.’s father, said.

The father added that he has always taught her to lead an honest life and not to become a thief under any circumstance.

“We, parents, will punish our kid when she’s wrong but tying my child to the railing and taking photos of her is not a deterrence but a humiliation.”

Dung also said that the supermarket fined S. VND200,000 (US$10) for stealing the two books.

Psychological effects

Trinh Thi Tam, S.’s mother, said S. has not dared to meet anyone and locked herself in her room following the incident.

She simply cried every time her family told her to go to school, Tam said, adding that the girl also screamed and told her parents to burn the two books she has stolen.

“I held her in my arms and talked her into going back to school. She told me in panic that she doesn’t dare to walk by that supermarket again and feels very upset knowing that her classmates talk behind her back about the theft,” Tam said.

According to sociologist Tran Dinh Dung, the punishment will have a negative influence on the kid’s perspective on society.

“The kid’s wrongdoing is too small compared with the adults’,” Dung said. “The girl has paid too high a price for the petty theft: the destruction of her human personality. This incident will make her scared of or feel a profound hatred for this life,” he said.

“It hurts seeing my student being treated like that. The two books cost little, we have so many ways to educate a kid, but now everything is out of control. The punishment meted out to S. was too harsh and could deeply affect her psychology,” Thai Duy Hang, principal of Chu Van An Middle School, said.

Supermarket employees apologize for their act

Thu Ba, director of the supermarket, said on April 14 that at the time S. was captured, the executive board was not at the supermarket.

Nguyen Hung Vi, manager of the supermarket, also said that he was shocked to know about the case.

“I have continuously received calls from strangers cursing me after the incident. We are very tired and will work with related staffers on this issue,” Vi said.

One day later, Ba said the four employees had come to S.’s house and apologized to her for their transgression on April 14.

“I myself talked to S.’s father and the principal of S.’ school,” she added, after admitting that this is a lesson for the supermarket in managing its staff members.

On April 15, Pham The Dung, chairman of the Gia Lai People’s Committee, directed Gia Lai police investigate the case.

Nhan Thi Hang Nga, deputy director of the Gia Lai Department of Education and Training, also expressed her thought that nobody has ever supported S.’s act of stealing, but what Vi Yen supermarket staff members did is unacceptable.

S.’s family said they do not want to talk about the incident anymore and cannot make any decision regarding the likelihood that they will sue anybody over it.

“The most important thing now is my daughter. I only hope she can calm down, overcome this and get back to her ordinary life,” S.’s father said. “They came to ask for our forgiveness but what happened did happen, and we cannot turn back the clock.”

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