'Slapping Therapist' Returns to Australia After Child's Death

Police have arrested and charged a prominent “slapping therapist” over the death of a six-year-old boy in 2015. The man was extradited from the UK and taken into NSW Police custody on August 17.

ABC reported Hongchi Xiao, the accused, ran “self-healing” workshops for the practice, known as Paida Lajin. It’s alleged patients were either slapped or slapped their own bodies as treatment.

It was reported the six-year-old boy had type-1 diabetes and that his parents took him to one of Xiao’s workshops on April 15. Paida Lajin supporters claim the method can cure symptoms by slapping toxins from the patient’s skin. A few days after the workshop, the boy died in a nearby hotel in Hurstville.

In March 2017 the boy’s parents were charged with manslaughter. After an investigation, Xiao was arrested at a London airport in April 2017 and extradited back to Sydney on August 17. Credit: NSW Police Force via Storyful