Hu Youping died from her injuries two days after the attack. -- Photo: CCTV/SCMP
BEIJING (SCMP): A man who attacked a Japanese mother and child with a knife and killed a Chinese bus attendant who tried to defend them has been sentenced to death.
Zhou Jiasheng, 52, was found guilty of murder and wounding by the Suzhou intermediate people’s court in the eastern Chinese city where the attack took place in July last year.
While the court did not give a detailed explanation of his motives, the news agency Kyodo reported that a Japanese foreign ministry official had told reporters that Zhou lost the will to live after losing his job and getting into debt.
There was no word on whether he would appeal.
Zhou appeared in court on Thursday morning for a brief hearing, which lasted for about 10 minutes and was attended by Masaru Okada, the Japanese consul-general in Shanghai, along with other diplomatic staff.
The case has attracted considerable attention in Japan and many journalists gathered in front of the court building for the hearing.
“The crime, which killed one person and wounded two, including an innocent child, is totally unacceptable, and we gravely accept the ruling,” the Japanese foreign ministry official told Kyodo.
Zhou attacked the woman and child as they were waiting for a bus in the eastern Chinese city in July and then tried to get onto a bus that was carrying Japanese schoolchildren, according to media reports from the time.
The killer was detained at the scene of the attack in Suzhou. -- X/kounanronin
The Chinese bus attendant Hu Youping suffered multiple stab wounds trying to stop him and died from her injuries two days later. She was later honoured by the Chinese government as a “righteous and courageous role model”.
After the attack, the Japanese government asked Beijing to ensure the safety of its citizens in China.
It repeated the call following a second fatal attack in September, when a 10-year-old Japanese boy was killed by a knifeman in the southern city of Shenzhen on the anniversary of Japan’s 1931 invasion of China.
Chinese residents mourn death of 10-year-old Japanese boy stabbed in Shenzhen
A 44-year-old Chinese national was detained after the attack and the first court hearing into the case is due to be held on Friday.
Earlier this week, the Chinese authorities executed two men who shocked the nation by carrying out mass killings in November.
Fan Weiqiu, 62, was found guilty of killing 35 people by driving an SUV in a crowd of people in Zhuhai, while Xu Jiajin, 21, stabbed eight people to death at a college in Jiangsu province. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
