Another man, Zheng Lu, 20, is facing trial on charges of kidnapping, torture and assault. All three apologised in court for their actions. A charge of torture, which carries a potential life sentence, was dropped.Three students from China were sentenced Wednesday to years in prison after prosecutors said they stripped, beat and burned two classmates. The 19-year-olds were accused of bullying a 16-year-old girl who was punched and slapped last March at a restaurant and a park in Rowland Heights, east of Los Angeles.. "She’s a happy person, and that was taken from her repeatedly." "Parents in China are well-meaning and send their kids thousands of miles away with no supervision and too much freedom," Yang said in a letter read by her attorney. Yunyao "Helen" Zhai was sentenced to 13 years behind bars; Yuhan "Coco" Yang got 10 years; and Xinlei "John" Zhang received a six-year term. "That is a formula for disaster."
The victims weren’t in court Wednesday but prosecutor Casey Jarvis said the woman who was stripped and burned has forgiven her attackers. Many stay with host families who are paid to provide room, board and substitute parenting. The 16-year-old was attacked because Zhai felt she had disrespected her, and the other woman was attacked because of disputes over a boy and an unpaid restaurant bill, investigators said."I hope they do not carry the wounds from what I did for the rest of their lives," Zhai wrote of the victims in a statement read by her attorney.A 16-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy were previously sentenced to juvenile camp for their roles in attacks.The defendants and victims were "parachute kids" who studied in Southern California while their parents remained back home. Investigators say they believe other teenagers involved in the attacks have left the country. "Along with that came a lot of freedom, in fact too much freedom."I didn’t tell my parents because I didn’t want them to worry about me.Two days later, prosecutors say, they kidnapped an 18-year-old classmate and took her to a park where she was stripped, beaten, punched, kicked, spat on, burned with cigarettes and forced to eat her own hair during a five-hour assault." "Here, I became lonely and lost," she wrote.The defendants pleaded no contest last month to kidnapping and assault.In her statement, Zhai said living so far from her parents played a role in her actions. "They sent me to the US for a better life and a fuller education," she said. They are among thousands of Chinese students studying in the US."Yang said the case was a wakeup call for "parachute kid syndrome. But somehow she was able to find Wholesale Antimicrobial non-woven fabric Suppliers forgiveness," he told the judge. Many have flocked to San Gabriel Valley suburbs east of downtown Los Angeles.
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