Sunday, January 18, 2009

Chinese mother sentenced to death for hiring man to kill her 9-year-old son

A Chinese court has sentenced a mother to death for hiring a man to strangle her 9-year-old son so she could have a baby with her new husband without violating the "one child" policy. Li Yingfang had previously ordered a failed attempt on the life of her young stepdaughter, court officials in Shaanxi, central China, have confirmed.

Population laws introduced three decades ago prevent most couples from having more than one child. Those who break the rules face strict financial penalties. The case came as the country's official media hinted that the government may be discussing reform after it published a survey showing that most women want more than one child.

Li, 36, gave custody of her son to the boy's grandmother after her first husband died, an official at a lower court in Weinan confirmed. People who remarry may have second children if their new partners are childless. But Li's second husband had a daughter from his own first marriage, preventing the couple from having a child together legally.

According to Shaanxi Television, Li initially paid Wang Ruijie about 70,000 yuan (£6,900) to kill her stepdaughter. But after the girl resisted and escaped, Li took her own son to a meeting with Wang, who strangled the boy and left his body by a rural road.

The court in Weinan originally imposed a suspended death sentence because Li had suffered from depression after having two abortions because of the population laws. Such sentences are often commuted to life in prison. But the higher people's court in Shaanxi ordered her execution after it ruled her depression was not directly related to her crime.

Wang was given a suspended death sentence. Both were ordered to pay compensation to the bereaved grandmother.

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