shenzhen This story isn't for the faint of heart. A father and his two young children, a 6-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl, were seen taking a walk, naked, on the street near their apartment in the Chinese city of Shenzhen. Unfortunately, that's not the worst of it. The father allegedly asked his son to bite his penis, and when the son refused, the father bit off his son's penis.

Onlookers rushed to the aid of the boy when they saw him screaming and crying with blood pouring from his groin. They were able to recover his severed member from the nearby bushes, and sped off to the hospital.

It's been reported that doctors were able to reattach the penis, but it's likely the child will suffer from a lifelong disability. He's currently in stable condition and will receive psychological treatment for his obvious trauma.

The father's also been hospitalized -- it's believed he's been battling mental illness. No word on where or what happened to his 4-year-old daughter. The three of them had been living together in an apartment ever since the mother/wife left them in 2010 after a failed business venture.

What can you really say about a story like this? It's terrible, it's terrifying, it's despicable, detestable, and disgusting. It's abhorrent on every level and absolutely heartbreaking. For some reason, I'm not especially angered by it -- it's more depressing than it is enraging.

The only silver lining of this story is the fact that so many strangers came to the aid of the little boy. It couldn't have been an easy scene to witness nor become a part of, but these selfless people knew what was right, and did everything they could to help.

If it hadn't been for them, who knows how the rest of the story would've unfolded.

What do you think?

 

Photo of Shenzhen, China via martin nikolaj/Flickr