Chinese students jailed for 'Lord of the Flies' attacks on California classmates

Three students from China were sentenced Wednesday to several years each in prison for stripping, beating and burning two classmates.

The defendants and victims were 'parachute kids' who studied in Southern California while their parents remained back home. 

Yunyao 'Helen' Zhai was sentenced to 13 years behind bars; Yuhan 'Coco' Yang got 10 years; and Xinlei 'John' Zhang received a six-year term. All three, who admitted kidnap and assault, apologized in court for their actions.

'I hope they do not carry the wounds from what I did for the rest of their lives,' Zhai wrote of the victims in a statement read by her attorney.

Yunyao 'Helen' Zhai, 19, was sentenced to 13 years in a California state prison on Wednesday. The Chinese national pleaded no contest to charges she brutalized two of her high school classmates

Yunyao 'Helen' Zhai, 19, was sentenced to 13 years in a California state prison on Wednesday. The Chinese national pleaded no contest to charges she brutalized two of her high school classmates

Shortest sentence: Xinlei Zhang, also 19 (pictured on Wednesday), was sentenced to six years for his part in the brutal bullying of two fellow 'parachute kids' 

Shortest sentence: Xinlei Zhang, also 19 (pictured on Wednesday), was sentenced to six years for his part in the brutal bullying of two fellow 'parachute kids' 

Ashamed: The third bully, 19-year-old Yuhan Yang, covered her face as she appeared in court for the sentencing hearing on Wednesday. Yang was sentenced to 10 years in prison 

Ashamed: The third bully, 19-year-old Yuhan Yang, covered her face as she appeared in court for the sentencing hearing on Wednesday. Yang was sentenced to 10 years in prison 

Zhai and Zhang were accused of bullying a 16-year-old girl who was punched and slapped last March at a restaurant and a park in Rowland Heights, east of Los Angeles.

Two days later, prosecutors say, all three kidnapped an 18-year-old classmate and took her to a park where she was stripped, beaten, punched, kicked, spat on, burned with cigarettes and forced to eat her own hair during a five-hour assault.

The 16-year-old was attacked because Zhai felt she had disrespected her, and the other woman was attacked because of disputes over a boy and an unpaid restaurant bill, investigators said.

The defendants pleaded no contest last month to kidnapping and assault. A charge of torture, which carries a potential life sentence, was dropped. 

Disappointed: The father of Xinlei Zhang watched media gather in the press area outside Pomona Court after the sentencing of his son on February 17

Disappointed: The father of Xinlei Zhang watches media gather in the press area outside Pomona Court after the sentencing of his son on February 17

They are among thousands of Chinese students studying in the U.S. Many stay with host families who are paid to provide room, board and substitute parenting. Many have flocked to San Gabriel Valley suburbs east of downtown Los Angeles.

Some of the attackers were students at Oxford School, a private school with about 140 international students - most of them from China. Tuition costs $12,000 a year. 

The judge deciding the case said it reminded him of 'Lord of the Flies' - the 1954 novel by William Golding about a group of British schoolboys stranded on a desert island who separate into rival gangs when forced to fend for themselves.

In her statement, Zhai said living so far from her parents played a role in her actions.

A fourth Chinese student, Zheng Lu,  has been jailed over the brutal bullying attack on a fellow 'parachute kid' in Southern California (pictured is the scene of the attack: Rowland Heights Park, in California)

Scene of the crime: Rowland Heights Park, pictured on June 23, 2015, is where the 18-year-old victim says she was brought in March by fellow Chinese 'parachute kids' who beat her and tortured her with cigarettes

Some of the attackers were students at Oxford School, a private school with about 140 international students - most of them from China. Tuition costs $12,000  a year. The campus pictured above

Some of the attackers were students at Oxford School, a private school with about 140 international students - most of them from China. Tuition costs $12,000  a year. The campus pictured above

'They sent me to the U.S. for a better life and a fuller education,' she said. 'Along with that came a lot of freedom, in fact too much freedom.

'Here, I became lonely and lost,' she wrote. 'I didn't tell my parents because I didn't want them to worry about me.'

Yang said the case was a wakeup call for 'parachute kid syndrome.'

'Parents in China are well-meaning and send their kids thousands of miles away with no supervision and too much freedom,' Yang said in a letter read by her attorney. 'That is a formula for disaster.'

Before sentencing, Zhang's father - a laborer-turned-businessman from Shenzhen, China - told reporters he regretted sending his son abroad.

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'If he'd never left my side, that would have been better,' Zhang told the Los Angeles Times.

The victims weren't in court Wednesday but prosecutor Casey Jarvis said the woman who was stripped and burned has forgiven her attackers.

'She's a happy person, and that was taken from her repeatedly. But somehow she was able to find forgiveness,' he told the judge.

A 16-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy were previously sentenced to juvenile camp for their roles in attacks. Another man, Zheng Lu, 20, is facing trial on charges of kidnapping, torture and assault.

Investigators say they believe other teenagers involved in the attacks have left the country.

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