Why did Siu die without being informed of the damage?

SBS's "I Want to Know" (hereinafter referred to as "GR"), which aired on the 18th, highlighted the case of the abuse death of an elementary school student in Incheon under the subtitle "5 Years That Became Hell - The Mystery of the Death of an Incheon Elementary School Student."

On February 7, 12-year-old Siu arrived at an emergency room in Incheon in cardiac arrest.

Siu, who was known as a beautiful child from a well-to-do family, was an adult child who took good care of his younger brother. However, one day, Xiu was not seen when his family was going out together, so the neighbors thought that the child had gone to study abroad.
By the
time he arrived at the hospital, he had already died. At the time, the medical staff saw the child in a near-malnourished state and thought he was about 7 or 8 years old. Siu, who was 149 cm tall, weighed 29.5 kg, and weighed about a second-grader, was wearing dirty clothes made of thin underwear that was out of season.

In addition, the child's body was full of bruises of different origins, and dozens of sharp puncture wounds were found on his thighs. There was no holy place anywhere in his body. On the side, skin deformations were detected that could be suspected of burns, so the medical staff suspected child abuse and immediately reported it. Siu's father and stepmother were arrested on suspicion of child abuse.

Two people have denied the allegations. The stepmother refused to admit to the assault, saying she only pushed and knocked him down on the day of his death, and claimed that the wounds left on the child's body were traces of self-harm.

However, the father revealed that everything was the work of his stepmother and that he did not know anything.

Siu, who is not an infant who is often targeted for child abuse, but a 12-year-old who is fully expressive. Why did Xiu die without informing his surroundings of his damage?

To find out why, the production team tracked down Xiu's past. Siu moved in with his biological father five years ago due to the divorce of his biological mother. The birth mother decided to divorce due to her husband's infidelity and assault. And the biological mother, who had no income at the time, divorced on the condition that instead of giving up custody, she had the right to interview Siu freely.

However, Xiu's father did not keep his promise to his biological mother and immediately remarried, severing the relationship between Xiu and his biological mother. Later, younger sisters were born to her father and stepmother, and her biological mother was worried about Xiu.

Two years later, when the biological mother was preparing to file a lawsuit to change custody of the paternity, the stepmother urged Siu to stop the lawsuit, saying that she did not want to, so the mother finally stopped the lawsuit.

And her birth mother, who went to Siu's school to meet Siu in time. Xiu, whom he met after four years, was not what his birth mother knew. Xiu was wary of his birth mother and immediately contacted his stepmother. And the biological father and stepmother soon appeared in front of the birth mother.

The stepmother and father made excuses for Xiu and lashed out at her, urging her not to think about seeing her again. Just like that, her birth mother had completely lost contact with Xiu.

Siu's direct cause of death was death from multiple blunt injuries. This was due to the continuous blow all over the body for a long time, causing massive bleeding in the skin and death.

It contradicted the stepmother's claim that the child's injuries were caused by self-harm. In response, the expert said, "If it is self-harm, there should be no wounds where it is out of reach, but a large amount of wounds have been found even in places that cannot be reached. A number of wounds were found while crouched, and they were constantly being abused."

The production team found out what happened to Siu through CCTV around the house and inside CCTV. CCTV inside the house captured Siu's appearance two days before his death. Xiu was tied to a chair with pants over his head.

The stepmother tied Xiu's limbs to the chair with a curtain strap and was watching with a home cam. He hurled unspeakable profanities and rants over the speaker, and at 5 a.m., he woke up the child and instructed him to copy the Bible.

In particular, Xiu was shocked when it was revealed that he had been bound to a chair for 16 hours before his death.

The production team also confirmed that Siu visited a convenience store the day before his death to buy drinks. At the convenience store, Xiu was looking extremely anxious. He also looked dazed, his facial muscles were injured, and he was severely malnourished.

Siu bought 2 plus 1 drinks, ate 2 and left 1. Therefore, the expert analyzed that this behavior was probably done because it was not necessary to take it home. And

the crew compared photos from one year before Siu's death and a month before his death. Xiu's condition, which had deteriorated rapidly in one year, broke the hearts of those watching.

During the interview, the production team confirmed that Siu had been receiving psychiatric care and was taking prescribed medication. Medical care began after the divorce of parents. The stepmother counseled Xiu for attention deficit. And the hospital prescribed the child according to the stepmother's statement that what the parents saw in the case of attention deficit was the criterion for the first diagnosis.

The stepmother also accused the school of Siu of lying and acting with intentions. However, Xiu's homeroom explained that there was no particular problem with the child's behavior.

Experts analyzed Xiu's psychiatric medical records. He also pointed out that the symptoms of Siu's attention deficit may be symptoms of PTSD. Siu, who is worried that her father or mother may disappear for a moment due to her parents' divorce, may have a trauma about it and the emotional shock that comes from it.

Repeatedly hearing such stories from someoneAnd that may have led to that kind of pressure or compulsion to go to the hospital and reveal that he was that kind of child."

Siu, who went to study in the Philippines alone when he was in the second grade, was constantly told by his parents before leaving to study abroad that if he didn't listen to them, they would send him to the Philippines.
The
expert lamented Siu, saying, "In addition, the child's trauma from constant exposure to emotionally abandoned situations must have gotten worse and worse."

When Xiu returned from studying abroad for eight months, he looked very different than before. He took care of all the tasks an adult would, such as throwing out garbage several times larger than his own luggage, picking up delivery food, and used the ultimate honorific for his stepmother. He also expressed extreme fear of his stepmother.

In response, the expert analyzed that Siu may have continued to be emotionally abused by his stepmother, saying, "The only way for a child to live is to obey his mother, and he would have had to think that he obeyed because he loved his mother."

In addition, the expert said of the stepmother, "She is a theatrical character, a narcissistic personality, but there is a lot of deficiencies in herself. When I look good and I am undermined or ignored, I get extremely angry."

As for why the stepmother was obsessed with Siu's upbringing, she said, "It is quite possible that she equated her son with her husband. It's quite possible that she vented her anger on her husband to the child, and these are the key parts that ultimately led to Siu's death."

Experts also noted the violence manifested by the father. The violence committed against the child even before the divorce may have desensitized Siu due to habitual violence.

He added that if you are a father, you have a duty to dry up and rescue your child when he is abused, and if he abandons it, he will be able to hold him accountable not just as an aiding and abetting offender, but also as a regular criminal.

The expert also explained why Siu failed to tell anyone about the damage: "If the abuse started in the fifth or sixth grade, the child would most likely have sought help. But if the abuse started much earlier, the child has no one to trust," she advised, "and you have to reflect on why you didn't create an environment where you can speak."

In determining custody of divorced families, she explained, "it is necessary not to worry that the economic situation of the parents will harm the welfare of the child, but to strengthen the measures to ensure that child support is paid so that the child can be paid without worry from wealthy parents until adulthood."

If both parents abuse the child, the government should establish a system to ensure that the child is well raised, he added.

She also advised that the right to interview should be fulfilled to give the child a sense of psychological safety.

He also emphasized that schools that only follow the manual should take a more active stance and not create a second siu. He also urged those who had various doubts but were unable to report it because they were unsure, leaving the judgment of child abuse to a specialized agency and reporting it first. In particular, if you find a child who falls under any of the 15 items on the child abuse checklist, you may suspect child abuse, so pay attention to saving one more child, he added.

(SBS Entertainment News Editor Kim Hyo-jung)