A mother in a village in H'Leo Ea Commune, Ea H'leo District, in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, on Tuesday released her son who was locked in a dog cage for one week for stealing money for playing online games.

Pham Thi Thanh Thuy, 37, said it was the last resort to deter her son, P.M.H., 14, from stealing money for playing online games.

"He was addicted to online games since he was a small child. I was occasionally blamed by neighbors after he occasionally stole money and properties of them,” she said.

“I have had to chain him for many times but he kept stealing money for online games.”

“Last week, he got into a neighbor's house to steal money and was caught red-handed. As a result, I have to lock him in the cage so that he will not steal money from the others again,” she said.

Though being locked in a cage, P.M.H. was fed by his mother several meals every day. As H. showed his remorse after a week in captivity, Thuy opened the cage and brought his son out to take a haircut, then asked H. to behave like a good child at home.

Some neighbors said that Thuy beat her son and chained him multiple times as H. stole money from many people in his village for several years.

"He began to play online game in his second grade, and then it took him the next four years to stay at his second-grade class before dropping out.”

Thuy said she once suggested her son to play game only for 1-2 hours every day. But H., after dropping out, started to steal money for gaming, neglecting his mother’s suggestion.

"Though the police said many of the thefts were not committed by my son, but the others still blamed him for stealing money, "Thuy said.

H. was beaten many times for stealing money, and in some cases, people suspected him and beat him at the scenes.

H. said: "Actually, in many cases, I did not steal the money."

Mr. Ma Van Thang - Police Chief of H'Leo Ea Commune - said as H. was a teenager, so the police just asked his for stricter management.

Thuy and her husband got married 15 years ago, having three sons, of which H. is the first child.

As Thuy’s husband often got drunk and then beaten his wife and children, Thuy divorced with him earlier this year and brought two of H.’s younger brothers to her mother’s house for rearing, letting H. stay with his father who did not care much about his son.