The lawyer representing pedicurist Deng Yujiao, charged with stabbing an official to death upon alleged sexual assault in Badong County, central China's Hubei Province, has said that he would not quit the case even though the defendant's mother had annulled their contract.

Deng Yujiao

A day after Deng's mother Zhang Shumei announced she was dissolving the contract because the lawyer had not been able to "carry out his duties satisfactorily", Xia Lin said a misunderstanding had led her to take the decision.

On Saturday morning, the local Badong government website posted a statement from Zhang, saying she was dissolving the contract.

"That was an improper thing for the local government to do,"Monday's China Daily quoted Xia as saying in his personal blog, because it bypassed both the lawyers (Xia Nan is the other defense lawyer) and their client.

He said Zhang called him nine hours later to say she would not annul the contract, and promised to meet him in Badong to talk things over, "but she didn't turn up."

Instead, she called him again around 4 pm that day to "terminate the contract", and refused to have a face-to-face talk with the lawyers.

Xia Lin has been trying to contact her since, but her cell phone is switched off.

Zhang terminated the contract because she was angry with the lawyers for saying "without any factual basis" that Deng had been raped, the Beijing-based English newspaper quoted Hubei Daily as saying. The local paper also said police had enough evidence to prove that the hotel employee had not been raped.

Last night, Xia Lin told reporters that what he said was only "attempted rape" or "sexual assault".

"Anyone with some idea about law can tell the difference between 'rape' and 'attempted rape'. Any attempt, intentionally or unintentionally, to mix the two terms prevents the public from knowing the truth. Such attempts should stop now."

Xia met with 21-year-old Deng on Thursday, 11 days after she allegedly used a fruit knife to attack Deng Guida and Huang Dezhi in Xiongfeng Hotel in Badong.

"After the meeting (with Deng Yujiao), we told Zhang to keep the underwear Deng Yujiao was wearing on the day of the incident," Xia said. Forensic experts could have got fingerprints or other evidence to show whether Deng Guida and Huang Dezhi had raped her or tried to rape her.

Though Zhang promised Xia that she would do so, the lawyers were told the next day that they had already washed.

Deng Yujiao attacked the two officials after they allegedly tried to rape her following her refusal to have sex with them in return for money. Deng Guida, 44, director of the business promotion office in Yesanguan, died of his injuries, and his 44-year-old junior colleague Huang was injured.

The incident has triggered a public outcry, especially after the hotel employee was detained for intentionally causing Deng Guida's death because many people believe she had acted in self-defense.

Netizens are following the case closely to expose any cover-up attempt by police, which on May 11 issued a statement saying Deng Guida "pushed" the woman on a sofa but later toned it down to a "nudge" and added two witnesses to the scene.

Deng Yujiao's "mental state", too, has drawn netizens' attention because many of them fear intense and forced medical treatment could turn her into a "mentally challenged" person, especially after Yesanguan police chief Tan Jing announced earlier that she might be suffering from depression.

To avoid such a thing from happening the Hubei provincial authorities have sent a team to supervise the investigation.

(Xinhua News Agency May 25, 2009)