A dish in China sentenced a man to death for killing 35 people last month drive into a crowdin an attack that sparked nationwide concerns about mass killings.
Fan Weiqiu vented his anger because he was dissatisfied with his divorce agreement, the court in the southern city of Zhuhai said in delivering the verdict on Friday. The victims were training in a sports center. Fan pleaded guilty to endangering public safety by dangerous means, a court statement said.
“Fan’s criminal motive was extremely despicable, the nature of the crime was extremely heinous, the means of the crime were particularly cruel and the consequences of the crime were particularly severe, resulting in great social harm,” the court said.
The attack was one of several in China in late October and November, prompting Chinese leader Xi Jinping to order local governments to take measures to prevent future “extreme cases.” His order prompted local leaders to vow to investigate personal disputes that could spark aggression, from marital problems to disagreements over inheritance.
Fan’s sentence was the second handed down in quick succession just weeks after the recent attacks, much quicker than court cases typically take in China.
A court earlier this week handed down a suspended death sentence with a two-year deferment to a driver who injured 30 people when he plowed into elementary school students and their parents in Hunan province. Such sentences are usually commuted to life imprisonment.
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The court in Changde city said the driver had vented his frustration over the loss of invested money.
Such attacks on crowds, with a vehicle or a knife, are nothing new in China, but this fall’s tsunami and the high death toll in the Zhuhai attack have brought the issue back into focus. In so-called “revenge against society” crimes, the attackers often vent their anger and frustration over a personal matter.
Chinese authorities are keeping all reports of the attacks tightly under wraps, censoring videos and eyewitness accounts posted on social media and often only releasing basic information many hours later.
The death toll in Zhuhai was not announced until 24 hours after the attack. In addition to the 35 people killed, another 43 were injured, police said. The 62-year-old driver, Fan, was found in his vehicle trying to stab himself with a knife, a police statement said.
The day after the attack, police erected barricades and prevented people from entering the sports complex. Instead, citizens left bouquets of flowers in an adjacent square.
—Associated Press researcher Yu Bing contributed to this report.
&Copy 2024 The Canadian Press
