Managers of a community in Putuo District have been ordered to pay a woman more than 220,000 yuan (US$32,500) after she was injured falling into a ventilation shaft while attempting to feed stray cats.

Putuo District People’s Court ruled that both sides were each partly responsible.

A management company must guarantee the safety of facilities within communities under its management, while individuals are expected to take responsibility for their own personal safety, especially if they choose to venture off the beaten track at night.

Andrea Matthews, an Australian citizen who has been working in China for more than a decade, said the community where she sustained her injuries was close to her office and, as an animal lover, she often fed stray cats there.

Matthews also claimed to have captured and neutered many stray cats.

At around 1am of July 17, 2017, Matthews went into the community with some cat food and heard what she thought to be a distressed cat.

The kindly foreigner pushed her way through a hedge and approached the ventilation outlet from whence the mournful sound appeared to have originated. As she attempted to see inside, the window shade collapsed and she fell 3 meters into the shaft.

Matthews lay unconscious at the bottom of the shaft for several hours until she came to. Luckily, a security guard heard her cries for help and she was rescued. The fate of the cat was not documented in court proceedings.

With multiple fractures to her spine, sternum and ribs, Matthews brought an action against the management company last year, demanding more than 600,000 yuan for medical fees and compensation.

She claimed that what had led her to the scene of the accident was nothing more than her love of animals.

Though not a resident of the community, she held that the management company were responsible for her injuries, caused by a poorly maintained ventilation shaft.

The company said stray cats in the community damaged the environment and that responsibility for that damage lay with those who fed them.

Such feeding is discouraged and the woman had deliberately entered a place normally off-limits to pedestrians.

During the hearing, Matthews said the company had never previously said anything against her actions and her sterilization of some cats had reduced their reproductive capacity and influence on the environment.

According to the Matthews’ lawyer, the place is open to children and elderly people. There were no warning signs or protection around the shaft. It had not been maintained for eight years and the company had failed in its duty to keep its facilities in good repair.

The court said the scene of the accident, hidden behind a hedge, was not a normal path of the community.

As an adult, the plaintiff should have been responsible for ensuring her own safety when entering the place at dawn.

The court also said there was no evidence that the woman had destroyed the window shade, so the company had demonstrably failed to keep the community safe.

The court ruled the company should compensate Matthews to the tune of 220,000 yuan in the first instance.