Influencer and mum Lhamo screams on livestream video as she's fatally attacked and set on fire by her ex-husband
An influencer has been killed by her ex-husband - who had previously forced her to marry him by threatening to murder their children if she didn’t say ‘I do’.
The social media star and mum known only as Lhamo was livestreaming from her dad's kitchen when a man burst into the room and she screamed out in terror. The screen went black, and Lhamo never posted online again.
At the time, she was posting her video on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and more than 400 of her fans were watching.
The man was Lhamo's ex-husband, Tang Lu. The 30-year-old had already divorced him twice after he forced her to remarry him by threatening to kill their children if she refused.
Tang had also previously hurt Lhamo on multiple occasions, but in September 2020 he got even more violent, entered her dad’s house and poured gasoline all over her before setting her alight.
According to local news publication The China Project, Lhamo's dad had been in his bedroom when his daughter was attacked, and he rushed Lhamo to the hospital when he realised what had happened to her. Once there, doctors discovered she had 90 per cent burns to her body.
Her sister Dolma, who rushed to be by her hospital bedside, said in an interview with The New York Times: "She looked like a piece of charcoal. He burned almost all her skin off."
For two weeks, Lhamo fought for her life in the intensive care unit, but her injuries were too extensive and she died.
Another local broadcaster, CCTV, reported that Tang was arrested and found guilty of homicide, with the court calling his crime "was extremely cruel". He was sentenced to death and, although he attempted to appeal, this was denied, and he was executed in summer 2022.
Lhamo, who lived in the south-western Chinese county of Jinchuan, Sichuan, was known for her positive outlook and cheery videos, but away from the cameras she had been fighting to protect herself and her two sons from Tang.
According to The Mirror, Lhamo had reported Tang’s abuse of her to the police, but she was told: "This is your personal family matter." Dolma had also tried to rescue her sister from her abusive situation, but she ended up in hospital herself with bone fractures after Tang struck her across her left eye.
Dolma filed a police report about the incident, but after brief questioning Tang was released. Dolma added in her interview: "It's too late to talk about these things now. If they had taken it seriously at that time and disciplined or punished him, we wouldn't be in this situation today."
Lhamo’s story has highlighted the issue of domestic abuse in China. The crime sparked the hashtag #LhamoAct, with activists calling for domestic abuse survivors to be allowed an automatic divorce, and for the more vigorous enforcement of domestic violence legislation.