A COUPLE in the midst of divorce fought not over designer handbags or real estate, but over their pet tortoises.
The duo from Wuhan, China, got married in 2021, but did not have any children, Sin Chew Daily reported.
They filed for divorce in July this year, citing irreconcilable differences.
What caught the attention of the Chinese public was the nature of their dispute – the man and woman were fighting over who should get the 13 tortoises they bought earlier this year for 180,000 yuan (RM110,538).
According to court documents, the woman claimed that she had paid half the money for the reptiles and wanted 100,000 yuan (RM61,410) in compensation before she was willing to give them up.
The judge ruled that the husband had better knowledge of pets and the tortoises would thrive better under his care.
However, he added that the tortoises were considered shared property and ruled that the man had to pay 80,000 yuan (RM49,128) to his wife in exchange for them.
When news of the dispute went viral, many Internet users criticised the couple.
“At first, I wondered how someone could be so attached to their pet tortoises. Then I found out that they were worth 180,000 yuan in total,” one netizen wrote.
> A teenager in Johor Baru has denied accusations that he coerced his schoolmates into paying protection money and beat up those who refused to pay, China Press reported.
The 17-year-old claimed he was forced into joining a local gang when he was in Form Three to receive protection but is no longer a member.
He said the viral photos on social media showing him holding a flag bearing the gang’s insignia and displaying their hand signs were real.
However, the boy said he did so because he thought it was “cool” at that time.
He said a different gang is trying to recruit him now and threatened to beat him up if he refused.
“I kept refusing to join. As a result, a series of incidents happened. I don’t know the social media user whose surname is Huang.
“I think all this (smear campaign) is the gang’s doing. They want me to fear them,” he said.
It was reported that Huang, a Facebook user who claimed to be a parent at the school in Bandar Seri Alam, made a post warning other parents about the boy’s gang activities at school.
After the post went viral, the school suspended the teenager.
● The above article is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with this ' >'sign, it denotes a separate news item.
