Father sentenced to death for killing daughter's deskmate—how can paternal love be expressed this way?
Compiled from: Supreme People's Court, Beijing Evening News
Case review
Wang's daughter, Xiao Wang, and the victim, Xiao Liu (deceased, age 9), were classmates at Shangrao No. 5 Primary School. While sitting at the same desk, Xiao Wang repeatedly reported to her parents that she was being "bullied" by Xiao Liu.
On May 9, 2019, after learning that his daughter had been "bullied" by Xiao Liu again, Wang Jian posted a message in the class WeChat group questioning Xiao Liu. Homeroom teacher Wang and Xiao Liu's father, Liu, both responded actively. Liu apologized to Wang and, after failing to add Wang as a WeChat friend, exchanged messages with Wang's wife, He, via WeChat.
That evening, Teacher Wang learned from a phone call with He that Wang was hot-tempered. At He's request, she told Xiao Liu's parents not to meet with Wang in person first, and that she would resolve the matter by changing seats. Around 7:40 the next morning, Liu sent Xiao Liu to school and left, maintaining WeChat communication with He, informing He that the matter was being actively handled, Xiao Liu would apologize to Xiao Wang, and the homeroom teacher had agreed to adjust seats.
Around 8:22, Wang sent Xiao Wang to school but did not wait for Liu at the school gate. Despite He's phone call informing him that the matter was being resolved and to let the daughter attend class, Wang insisted on taking Xiao Wang home, buying a slaughter knife on the way. Around 9:12, Wang returned to school with the knife. Seeing only He communicating with homeroom teacher Wang in the office, he rushed into the third-grade classroom through the back door, stabbed Xiao Liu, who had been moved to the last row alone, more than ten times in the chest, abdomen, back, and buttocks, then dragged the fallen Xiao Liu out of the classroom and threw him onto the corridor, causing fatal bleeding from a ruptured abdominal aorta and inferior vena cava. Afterward, Wang sat on the school playground steps with the knife until police arrested him.
Supreme People's Court: Death penalty approved.
The Supreme People's Court review found that the defendant Wang intentionally and unlawfully deprived another person of life, constituting the crime of intentional homicide. Wang failed to rationally view and handle the friction between his daughter and a classmate, broke into the school classroom to openly commit violence with a knife out of anger, causing the immediate death of a 9-year-old victim. The criminal means were particularly cruel, the social impact extremely adverse, and the social harm great. Although he did not flee after the crime and waited for police arrest, showing voluntary surrender, his crime was so severe that it did not warrant a lighter sentence. The first-instance verdict and second-instance ruling had clear facts, solid evidence, accurate conviction, and appropriate sentencing. The trial procedures were lawful. Accordingly, the Supreme People's Court approved the death penalty for the defendant Wang.
[1] The author's perspective
In this case, after friction between Wang's daughter and a third-grade classmate, despite active communication and resolution efforts by the teacher and the other parent, Wang still could not handle it rationally and calmly. Instead, he bought a knife, broke into the school classroom, and openly killed a defenseless young child on the spot. Such behavior is insane and appalling. Although Wang's extreme actions were for his daughter, driven by temporary anger over her being bullied, the extremely cruel killing of a 9-year-old child was not only excessive but also absolutely intolerable under the law.
Recently, China's Supreme People's Court decided to establish a Juvenile Court Work Office to promptly revise or create new judicial interpretations and policies, and to release guiding and typical cases in a timely manner. By strengthening trial guidance and unifying judgment standards, it ensures that every case involving minors reflects fairness and justice and meets public expectations. This also demonstrates that Chinese people's courts are increasingly prioritizing legal issues involving minors, maintaining zero tolerance for serious crimes against minors, resolutely imposing severe punishments according to law, and for crimes with extremely vile nature, circumstances, and severe consequences like this case, firmly imposing the death penalty without leniency.
