(File photo)

Public outcry to lower the age of criminal responsibility in China has surfaced after a 13-year-old boy in Sichuan province set a woman ablaze in order to rob her of her iPhone.

The boy, surnamed Fang, attacked the 24-year-old female victim, Yang Dongling, on June 13. He poured a bottle of gasoline on her face and immediately began a fire in order to prevent the woman from fighting back, a police investigation showed.

The investigation also found that the woman was a complete stranger to Fang, and that his crime was an impulsive one, planned only after a classmate asked to borrow money from Fang, West China City Daily (WCCD) reported.

The attack has left Yang, a teacher, with severe burns all over her body and face. The burns on her face and head are slowly recovering after Yang received a skin graft, while her other burns will take longer to be operated on and heal. Yang may also have to have her fingers amputated due to necrosis.

For now, Fang is in the custody of his father, who has been ordered to keep the young man restrained, as his age exempts him from criminal punishment. The appalling case has once again ignited public debate over the country’s criminal law, and whether it should be amended to make violent minors legally responsible for their actions.

In July, another 13-year-old killed three children, aged 8, 7 and 4, in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The boy in that case was assigned by the government to undergo three years of rehabilitation, reported the Beijing News.

(Severely burnt fingers of Yang Dongling. Photo/West China City Daily)

“There have been increasing calls to lower the age of criminal responsibility after more light has been shed on major juvenile crimes, but it is impossible to change the situation simply by amending the law,” said Zhao Hui, a Beijing-based lawyer specializing in juvenile legal aid, in an interview with WCCD.

According to China’s criminal law, suspects younger than 14 will not be held criminally accountable. Those aged between 14 and 16 will only face criminal punishment for severe charges including murder, drug-dealing and rape.

Zhao said that most juvenile criminals come from families with inattentive parents, and they often leave school at an early age. Such minors can be dangerous to society, but they are also themselves victim of a bad environment.

“Currently, the preventative measures for juvenile crimes are inadequate. These measures have the potential to be more effective than punishment after a crime has already been committed. More work needs to be done to prevent crimes and violations beforehand,” Zhao noted.