Minor excuse: China boy tramples on Lamborghini causing US$25,000 damage says he is too young to pay for crime, enraging social media

A teenager in China who trampled on the bonnet of a Lamborghini has refused to apologise or pay compensation to the owner of the vehicle by using the excuse that he is “a minor”.

The case has turned the spotlight on the legal responsibilities of underage offenders under mainland law.

The owner of the luxury Italian sports car, surnamed Wang, had left his Lamborghini in the underground car park of a five-star hotel in eastern China’s Shandong province after checking in on September 21.

Three days later, a friend told him his car was being used as a prop in online videos showing a young man stepping on its bonnet to show off in front of his friends’ cameras, Wang told the Chinese media outlet Qilu Evening News.

Wang checked surveillance video footage from the hotel and discovered a group of teenagers around his car. The person who stood on the vehicle also spat on it before he left the scene.

He said in one of his posts on Douyin, the mainland’s version of TikTok, that staff at a Lamborghini dealership told him the bonnet was damaged and it would cost more than 180,000 yuan (US$25,000) to fix.

Wang had bought the car for nearly three million yuan (US$417,000) last year.

Police said the person who stepped on the vehicle was 15 years old.

Wang said he tried to contact the culprit’s parents via the police, but they refused to respond or apologise.

Wang also showed several comments he received from the teenager, who kept provoking him with photos of him standing on other expensive cars.

In one of the comments he sent to Wang, the teenager said he would go unpunished because he was “a minor”.

According to China’s Criminal Law, a person who intentionally destroys or damages property, public or private, faces a maximum jail term of seven years.

However, offenders under the age of 16 do not bear criminal responsibility for vandalism.

A lawyer with Shandong Shunxiang Law Firm, Li Mi, said the most severe punishment for the young man in this case would be a requirement to pay financial compensation and bind his parents to ensure stricter supervision of their child.

Irritated by the attitude of the teenager and his parents, Wang said he would not accept any settlement and is prepared to take the offender to court.

The incident went viral and received more than 8 million views on Douyin.

Online observers have backed Wang’s stance.

“Being minor is not an excuse to commit criminal offences,” one person said on Douyin.

“If the parents don’t educate their children, then society will,” said another.