TAIPEI – A 7-year-old Taiwanese boy who was in a coma for more than two months after he was repeatedly thrown to the floor during a judo class has died, a hospital said yesterday.
The boy, who was only identified by his family name Huang, was rushed to Feng Yuan Hospital in central Taichung city on April 21 after he was reportedly thrown 27 times by his judo coach.
He had been in a coma for 70 days with brain haemorrhages and developed respiratory problems as well as multiple organ failure before his parents decided to take him off life support yesterday, a hospital official told AFP.
His coach, identified by his surname Ho, was indicted earlier this month on charges of inflicting severe injuries on children and using children to commit a crime, prosecutors said in a statement.
The coach instructed other children to practise with Huang even when the boy was not familiar with basic judo movements, and he started to use several throwing techniques on the child after he said “the coach is a big idiot”, according to the statement.
The boy complained of a bad headache but Ho proceeded to throw him a dozen more times that caused him to vomit, it added.
The coach did not stop until Huang collapsed unconscious on the floor, prosecutors said.
Local media cited his family as saying he was thrown about 27 times. Prosecutors said his head repeatedly hit the floor but did not specify how many times.
Huang begged the coach to stop multiple times, saying he could not bear it anymore, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency.
The boy’s uncle reportedly attended the class but failed to stop the coach.
“Wish you can rest in peace in another world and the justice system can finally bring comfort to your family,” Taichung city mayor Lu Shiow-yen, who visited the boy in hospital, said in a post on her Facebook page. – AFP, June 30, 2021
