Duped lover wins cash payout

A woman in her 30s has won a payout of 150,000 yuan ($24,105) after suing a 60-year-old man who seduced her while claiming to be single.

Xiao Yu (pseudonym), 35, sued Li Dongjiang for lying about his marital status after they met on popular dating site baihe.com.

Chaoyang district court awarded Xiao the cash payout after she sued Li for mental distress.

"I'm happy with the verdict, which I didn't expect. My lawyer told me that if you sue for mental distress, the award won't be more than 100,000 yuan," said Xiao, who had initially asked for 318,868 yuan.

Sun Qi, the chief judge, said in court that the accused had violated the plaintiff's sexual rights which infringed her rights to human dignity.

"The accused sought a marriage partner when he was married. He knew the plaintiff was dating to get married, but he concealed his status, and used the promise of marriage to seduce her," said Sun.

Xiao registered on Baihe in September 2010 and accepted a date with Li, who said he was a divorced senior executive.

"I refused at first because of the age gap. But he constantly invited me," said Xiao.

"Li looks younger than his age; he said he wanted a family and promised that I could have children," she said.

Xiao moved in with Li and gave up her government job to work at Li's company, a trade enterprise based in Heihe, Heilongjiang Province. When she became pregnant in September 2011, Li persuaded her to have an abortion.

"I asked him to bring his divorce certificate many times, but he always had an excuse. I trusted him so much that I did not doubt him," Xiao said.

When Xiao finally found out the truth in Spring Festival 2012, he claimed that although he was not divorced, he had not lived with his wife for 20 years.

"I've suffered from depression since then. I can't sleep and eat well and have to stay in my house," said Xiao.

In December 2012, another woman sued Baihe after she was duped by a man who claimed to be a rich property owner, when in fact he was married and unemployed. She claimed Baihe did not thoroughly check his background.

Xiao's lawyer, Liu Qingyan, said they will not sue Baihe because it is hard for the website to verify clients' information.

"Besides, it's difficult to sue both Baihe and Li together because Li is the main person responsible," said Liu.