London 4/5/2011 11:00:00 PM
News / Entertainment

Parents fight over unwanted child

A Chinese court has to rule which parent is to take custody of their child - because both refuse to look after him.

The four-year-old boy's mother told the hearing in Beijing that she doesn't have the "necessary skills" to bring up a child alone while the father claimed his work life would suffer if he was to become a single dad.

Judges are said to be settling the strange case by waiting to see which of the former partners can offer the other the biggest lump sum.

The case has provoked fury throughout the country, with one website critic writing: "These people behave worse than children themselves.

"They are not fit to keep pets, let alone children."