Dad Attacked After Suicide Bid With Toddler

An angry crowd beat a suicidal man who threatened to jump off a ledge with his two-year-old daughter in south west China, state media have said.

More than 100 people attacked Hu Binjun in the city of Chengdu, Sichuan province, according to the China Daily.

The 34-year-old father outraged onlookers after he dangled his daughter from an eighth-floor window, the paper said.

"He deserved the beating because he was so inhumane to his own child," a woman at the scene was quoted as saying.

The suicide bid happened on Tuesday following a fight between Mr Hu and his wife over his alleged drug use, the English-language newspaper said.

As firefighters closed in, the father went inside his flat but left the child upside down on a ledge outside the window.

However, she was rescued before she could fall.
Firefighter Chen Long told the paper how he had urged Mr Hu to be calm in the interests of the child before deciding to try to snatch her by force.

"But when I slid from the ninth floor to the eighth, the man was alerted. He jumped into the bedroom but placed the baby upside down outside the window," Mr Chen said.

Firefighters in the apartment diverted Mr Hu's attention while Mr Chen slid down to the eighth floor and rescued the baby, before blocking the father's suicide attempt.

"When the man jumped onto the windowsill and was about to jump off the building, I pushed the window and cops inside the bedroom were quick enough to capture him," Mr Chen added.

A mob set upon Mr Hu when police took him outside the building, the report said, without saying how badly he was hurt.

The former bus driver is currently unemployed and had recently started taking drugs, which led to quarrels, his wife Wang Xingxin reportedly said.