7-Year-Old Boy In Deep Coma After Being Slammed 20 Times By Judo Coach, Older Student

A judo coach in Taiwan was detained and held incommunicado Saturday after one of his young students fell into a deep coma and was put on life support from being slammed into the floor more than 20 times in a row during a class.

The coach, identified by his surname Ho, was suspected of negligence causing severe injury after Taichung prosecutors probed him for the second time Saturday on the incident involving the 7-year-old student, Taiwanese state-owned Central News Agency (CNA) reported Sunday.

The boy's father, surnamed Huang, said in a press conference Friday that his child, a first-grade student at Fengyuan District's Nanyang Elementary School, was in his second judo class when the incident occurred on April 21.

Ho and an older student allegedly threw Huang's son to the ground more than 20 times as they took turns "demonstrating" a judo throw, as per CNA.

The boy reportedly begged them to stop after being thrown a number of times and complained that his legs and head hurt. According to Huang, however, the coach ordered him to stand back up and be thrown again.

Huang said the coach dragged the child to his feet when he failed to get up and threw him another seven times until he became completely unresponsive and was rushed to the hospital.

Ho insisted that the throw was part of normal training when questioned for the first time by prosecutors Friday and was allowed to go home.

The boy was diagnosed with severe brain injury and went into a deep coma after surgery at Fengyuan Hospital. His condition was reportedly unstable to due severe intracranial hemorrhaging.

The hospital's vice superintendent, Chang Cheng-yi, said the child remains in the intensive care unit on life support. He added that the boy could remain in a vegetative state for the rest of his life even if he survives.

Following news of the incident, the Chinese Taipei Judo Federation revealed Saturday that Ho does not possess a coaching license issued by the association.

Prosecutors requested Ho to be detained incommunicado after questioning him and witnesses Saturday, suspecting that the former could have committed negligence causing serious injury and may collude with accomplices or witnesses. The court granted their request Saturday.