Wal-Mart workers have been accused of bashing a woman to death outside her home because they thought she was a shoplifter.

Yu Xiaochun, 37, died after being attacked by five workers outside her home, located 500 meters from a Wal-Mart store in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, on Aug 30, police said.

Police formally arrested a man surnamed Liu and a woman surnamed Yu, who are both employed in the asset protection division. Three other workers were released for unrevealed reasons.

The workers reportedly followed the woman because they suspected she had stolen items from the store, according to Jiangxi TV. It has not been revealed whether or not the woman was shoplifting.

Police said the five Wal-Mart workers stopped Yu in the street and demanded to see a receipt for the goods she was carrying. Yu refused because the five workers were not wearing uniforms, police said.

An argument broke out between Yu and the workers, who then punched her and caused her to fall to the ground, police said. At some point, Yu managed to grab her phone and call her family for help.

"They started to hit her because she didn't do what they said," said husband Chen Baolin to Jiangxi TV.

"I got there and tried to stop them but they kept beating her," he added.

Yu was taken to Jingdezhen First Hospital but died three days later. Police said Yu died from her injuries.

Chen said Wal-Mart was responsible for his wife's death. "But they even did not apologize, nor mention any sort of compensation," he said.

Wan Renjin, an officer with Zhoulukou police, told China Daily the family has not reached on any financial agreement.

Several calls to Wal-Mart for comment went unanswered yesterday.

(China Daily September 8, 2009)