A man who killed 35 people and injured 43 others in a car attack has been sentenced to death, Chinese state media reported Friday.
“(The court) publicly heard the case of defendant Fan W for endangering public safety through dangerous means and issued a verdict on the same day. Fan W was sentenced to death,” state broadcaster CCTV reported.
The court said the intentions were ‘very bad’
State media reported that the court described the defendant’s intentions as “extremely despicable, the nature of the crime extremely serious, the methods particularly cruel and the consequences particularly grave, causing significant harm to society”.
The court found that Fan was unhappy with his divorce settlement.
The attack took place in the southern city of Zhuhai and was the deadliest mass killing in China since 2014.
The fan was arrested by the police soon after the attack.
An initial police statement said people were injured, but did not mention any deaths, and videos of the attack were later removed by online censors.
The floral tributes that had been dropped at the site of the attack were also removed from the spot by the security personnel.
mass murders in china
China has experienced several violent attacks in recent months. In November, eight people were stabbed to death in the eastern city of Wuxi.
In October, a man killed three people and injured 15 others in a knife attack at a Shanghai supermarket.
And a month earlier, a Japanese schoolboy was stabbed to death in Shenzhen, the southern city bordering Hong Kong.
In the days following the attack, Chinese leader Xi Jinping ordered local governments to take steps to prevent “extreme cases” in the future.
KB/DJ (AFP, Reuters)