A bald and tattooed victim of theft was beaten up by passers-by in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, because he “didn’t look like a victim, but a thief”.

The incident took place recently, when Zhai was in his apartment’s kitchen and heard a racket. On walking into his living room, he saw a burglar escape the house with some of his belongings.

Zhai, a bald man with a huge tattoo on his arm, chased the burglar and caught up with him. During the struggle, the burglar screamed: “Help! Thief!”

Passers-by came to the burglar’s rescue and bashed up Zhai before phoning the police.

The burglar had by then escaped.