Cops: Man Sells Infant Daughter to Buy iPhone

He's been jailed for 3 years
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 9, 2016 2:33 PM CST
Cops: Man Sells Infant Daughter to Buy iPhone
Police say a Chinese man went way too far to get one of these.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A Chinese man who apparently really wanted an iPhone sold his 18-day-old infant daughter on social media in order to get one, the Independent reports, citing local media. The man and the baby's mother were both 19 when they had the not-planned-for baby last year, and the man—identified only as "A Duan"—just recently turned himself in, the Epoch Times reports, also citing regional media. The buyer read about the baby on popular Chinese social media platform QQ and bought her for his sister for $3,520. Police say Duan intended to use the money to buy an iPhone and a motorbike.

According to some reports, Duan sold the infant without the consent of her mother, who was devastated at the turn of events; the Metro, however, also citing local media, says she agreed to the sale. Police found her and arrested her, and she told them she "really didn't know that it was illegal" to sell your child, noting, "Many people in my hometown send their kids to other people to raise them." The judge ultimately gave her a suspended sentence of two and a half years, while Duan, after turning himself in, got three years in prison. As for the baby, the buyer's sister still has her since her parents can't raise her, and officials are reportedly considering what the "best course of action" is. (This has happened before.)

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