Principal admits to raping student, molesting 4 others

Details of sexual assault allegations against the principal of a primary school in Huludao, Liaoning province, were revealed by Suizhong county's publicity authority on Tuesday.

The suspect, surnamed Wang, confessed to rape and sexual offenses against minors at the county's Shuikou Primary School. He has been detained on criminal allegations since June 1, the authority said.

It added that local prosecutors have taken over the case and are preparing an arrest warrant for him.

On May 31, a student at the Shuikou Primary School, accompanied by her mother, reported to the police that she was forced to have sex with the principal three times between March and November last year.

On the same day, four other students and their parents approached the police to accuse Wang of sexual misconduct.

Wang was immediately placed in custody and, after interrogation, confessed to raping the student who first reported him to the police and sexually assaulting other students. Further investigation into the case continues.

According to the authority, the suspect, 50, had been teaching at the Zhongxin Primary School since 1989 and was promoted to head the Shuikou Primary School in 1991.

Both the principal and the Party secretary of the Zhongxin Primary School of Gaotai, which oversees Shuikou Primary School, have been removed from their positions for their lax supervision and failure to report the scandal.

A teacher at the Zhongxin Primary School has been appointed as the interim principal since June 2.

Psychological counseling services were offered to the victims and their parents.

Separately, Shanghai police said on Wednesday that another man surnamed Wang, 57, and a woman, surnamed Zhou, 49, have been arrested on suspicion of molesting a 9-year-old girl in a hotel.

Local media Xinmin Evening News identified the man as Wang Zhenhua, chairman of the board of Seazen - a real estate developer based in Shanghai and listed in both Shanghai and Hong Kong. It reported that the alleged crime happened in a five-star hotel in Shanghai on Saturday, leaving the girl with lacerations on her vagina.

The girl, who hails from Shanghai's neighboring Jiangsu province, made a phone call to her mother, who was in Jiangsu, about the incident. The mother contacted Shanghai police, it reported.

The 9-year-old and another 12-year-old girl were brought to the hotel by Zhou, a friend of the 9-year-old's mother. Zhou told the mother that she took the girl to Shanghai to visit Disneyland, according to the report.

The report said Wang paid Zhou 10,000 yuan ($1,400) in cash after committing the alleged molestation.