Our reporter (Wang Lina) - "Can I make a phone call to my parents?" 23-year-old Guo requested of the judge in court. Accused of defrauding over 500,000 yuan from his girlfriend's family, Guo was tried in the Shijingshan Court yesterday morning where he requested to call his parents for money to repay the victim.
At 9 o'clock yesterday morning, Guo was brought into the courtroom. During the trial, his eyes were constantly fixed on the floor. The prosecutor accused him that between 2007 and 2008, Guo lied that he was an employee of Beijing Bright Dairy Company, Sohu Space, fabricated a lie about preparing to buy a batch of cars to rent to the company for profit, and defrauded over 500,000 yuan from his girlfriend and her relatives and friends. He also took advantage of their trust, applied for multiple credit cards, and maliciously overdrawn more than 60,000 yuan.
In court, Guo voluntarily confessed to the judge but defended himself by saying that the money had already been squandered by him, "all spent on eating, drinking, and having fun." The prosecutor confirmed that after the case broke out, the police only found more than 40,000 yuan in Guo's account. The judge asked Guo, "can you think of any way to repay the victim?" After a moment of silence, Guo replied, "Can I make a phone call to my parents?" The judge agreed and immediately adjourned the court.
Subsequently, the court officer took Guo to the judge's office. After dialing the number, Guo quietly and calmly spoke to his mother, mentioning that someone once borrowed 100,000 yuan from him and never returned it, so he asked his parents to help collect the debt. Afterwards, the judge informed the prosecutor of this situation, hoping they would notify the public security organs to recover this money. The judge expressed that temporarily agreeing to let Guo talk to his family was also with the hope of reducing the victim's loss, as well as giving Guo a chance to reduce his punishment. The court will announce the verdict at a later date.