An 18-day-old baby girl was sold by his parents in China in exchange for an iPhone and a motorbike. Because of the illegal sale, the infant's father is now facing three years behind bars.
Daily Mail reported that a father from Tong'an, Fujian province located in eastern China met the buyer of his daughter online through the QQ network. It noted that he gave a price tag of 23,000 ($3,500) for his kid.
The baby's mother has skipped jobs in the past while her partner made rounds of Internet cafes to kill time. They reportedly met three years ago but the marriage did not push through since both were still under the legal age. Daily Mail said they did not expect that they would have a baby.
The thought of raising a baby became a nightmare for two so they decided to sell their newborn baby girl. Cult of Mac mentioned that the father completed the online deal without the mother's knowledge because he wanted to buy himself a new iPhone and a motorbike.
It was noted in the same report that when the mother found out that her husband sold the baby, she fled their residence and went into hiding. She was recently located by the authorities but denied knowing that selling a child was illegal.
"I myself was adopted, and many in my hometown sell their children, because [they] can't grow them," she was quoted by Cult of Mac as saying. "I really didn't know it was illegal." According to Daily Mail, the mother was also given a suspended sentence of two and a half years. The judge, however, became lenient on the penalties slapped on the couple.
This incident is just one of the thousands of online baby selling in China where an estimated 200,000 infants are offered to buyers through various websites. Daily Mail said this has been a perennial problem in the country that tears a family apart.
