The police yesterday arrested a 13-year-old boy who allegedly killed a three-year-old girl and then had sex with her corpse on May 19 in Guangzhou.

An official of the Haizhu district public security bureau in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, said: "We have arrested the boy and are interrogating him to determine the motive of the murder."

The police arrested the accused, whose real name has been withheld as he is a minor, on May 21, the official said.

"A postmortem examination on May 21 confirmed that the girl was first killed and then sexually assaulted," he said.

According to the confession of the accused, he saw three-year-old Wang Xiaoyi playing near his apartment building while he was returning home from school on May 19, the Guangzhou-based South China Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

"He grabbed the girl and took her to his home while his parents were away. The accused tied the girl's hands and feet and forced her head into a basin full of water," the paper reported.

After Wang drowned to death, the 13-year-old allegedly had sex with her corpse before throwing it out of his fifth floor apartment.

The accused confessed to the crime, admitting he had no accomplices.

Wang Long, the victim's father, told the South China Metropolis Daily: "My daughter had gone out to play at about 5 pm on May 19, but when she didn't return till dark, we got worried.

"We went out to search for her, and at about 8 pm we noticed police barricades near an apartment building nearby.

"There was word that a little girl had fallen to her death from the building. We stepped closer and found it was our daughter."

Huang Aihua, a lawyer at the Guangzhou Hebang Law Firm, said the accused will not face criminal charges as he is a minor.

"The court cannot punish anyone below the age of 14 with criminal sanctions," he said.

He, however, added that if found guilty, the accused will have to bear "civil liabilities".

"The victim's family can request compensation for mental anguish, death and funeral charges."

Even as the cops struggle to determine a motive behind the brutal incident, psychologists said the accused might be suffering from mental problems.

"In today's Internet world, it's not hard for a child to get his hands on pornography," said Guangzhou-based psychologist Xie Huichao.

"If the kids are not guided properly, they will indulge in pornography which will distort their mentality," he added.

Neighbors of the accused said the accused's family had stayed in the building for over six years.

"The boy's father is a chef, who works in another city, and his mother is a waitress," a neighbor surnamed Huang said.

Wang Long and his wife met the suspect's parents after the incident to settle the matter.

(China Daily May 28, 2009)