A Chinese court condemned a man to death for killing 35 people by crashing his car into a crowd last month, causing widespread alarm over mass murders.
In delivering the sentence on Friday, December 27, the court in the southern city of Zhuhai stated that Fan Weiqiu was expressing his ire because he was dissatisfied with the terms of his divorce settlement.
Prior to the event, the victims were working out in a sports center. According to a court statement, Fan entered a guilty plea to endangering public safety by dangerous means.
Fan’s “criminal motive was extremely despicable, the nature of the crime was extremely vile, 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 in its judgement.
Following a series of attacks in late October and early November, Chinese leader Xi Jinping ordered local governments to take action to prevent future “extreme cases.”
Fan’s sentence was the second one handed down in quick succession just weeks after the recent attacks, which is significantly faster than court cases typically take in China.
Earlier this week, a court sentenced a driver who drove into parents and elementary school students in Hunan province to receive a suspended death sentence with a two-year reprieve; these sentences are typically commuted to life in prison.
The motorist was venting his emotions after losing his investment money, according to the Changde court.
In China, attacks on crowds using a car or a knife are not new. In what are referred to as “revenge on society” crimes, the perpetrators frequently vent their rage and fury over a personal issue.
