Courtroom Tears over Deception of Jade Fraud Reasons - The case was not judged on the same day. The judge finally announced a recess, awaiting the deliberation results from the panel of judges which would be declared separately. Photographed by Li Sen.
This woman is named Gao Lijuan, 28 years old, from Yunnan Province, living with her husband near Capital Airport in Shunyi District, Beijing. She has an associate degree and works as an individual business owner.
Report by correspondent Lin Jing: In order to repay debts, a woman defrauded her creditor of 26 pieces of jade articles for pawning, but ended up "outsmarting herself". Not only did her debt increase, but she also faced fraud charges, being tried in court at Haidian Court the other day.
The judge allowed the defendant to defend herself. Gao Lijuan said, "I have deeply reflected on my actions, I know I was wrong, and I feel very remorseful. I'm sorry to the victim, and also sorry to my own family. I hope the presiding judge can give me a chance to start anew, and consider leniency for me."
From the moment she was escorted into the courtroom by judicial police, throughout the entire trial, Gao Lijuan kept her head down, tears welling in her eyes, her voice choked with emotion, and she cried uncontrollably when moved.
The prosecutor believed that the defendant Gao Lijuan's actions constituted contract fraud, involving a significant amount. However, considering her good attitude towards confession, all 26 pieces of involved jade articles have been returned to the victim who has forgiven her. This may be taken into account during sentencing.
For all charges, Gao Lijuan admitted no objections. In her statement, she said, "In December of the year before last, I negotiated goods with Mr. Shen, lying that someone was willing to pay a high price, which could settle the previous debt of 260,000 yuan I owed him. Mr. Shen handed over jade articles worth a total of 1.32 million yuan to me in three batches, agreeing that payment would precede delivery. However, I didn't abide by the agreement and privately pawned the goods to a pawnshop. I used five fake checks to deceive Mr. Shen, telling him the goods could be sold. I received a total of 326,000 yuan from the pawnshop, repaying 100,000 yuan to Mr. Shen and 60,000 yuan to Mr. Ma (another creditor). I used 60,000 yuan to redeem four items of Mr. Shen's goods from the first pawn, and the remainder was used to pay interest to the pawnshop. When Mr. Shen urged me for the jade money, I bought five fake checks at 2000 yuan each to give him, delaying time because I indeed had no ability to redeem his jade."
Why did she commit fraud? According to Gao Lijuan's confession, "I was previously deceived in the jewelry business and have been doing things like robbing Peter to pay Paul these past few years. It always started by borrowing goods from jewelers, selling them, and then paying the money."
She operated jade pendant accessories, and after meeting Mr. Shen in 2008, she took goods from him three times. Because of previous business dealings, she owed Mr. Shen over 260,000 yuan. So she first pawned four pieces of Mr. Shen's jade jewelry, intending to sell the rest gradually. However, due to Mr. Shen's persistent demands, she ended up pawning all of his jade. "At the time, I just wanted to sell the goods and make money to repay him."
Several witnesses' testimonies presented by the prosecutor confirmed that apart from Mr. Shen, Gao Lijuan borrowed money from others as well, which remained unpaid until the incident occurred. Mr. Ma, through a friend, lent 180,000 yuan to Gao Lijuan. Her reason for borrowing was "business inventory needs," while she mortgaged some jade rings to Mr. Ma. Even at the time of the incident, she still owed Mr. Ma over 90,000 yuan.
According to the prosecution's accusation, in December of the previous year, the defendant Gao Lijuan falsely claimed there were customers purchasing jade. In locations such as Dazhongsi in Haidian District, Beijing, she defrauded the victim Mr. Shen of 26 pieces of jade articles. After appraisal, 22 of these were valued at 411,000 yuan. She pawned the defrauded jade articles and provided forged transfer checks to Mr. Shen as payment for the goods.