After killing his mother, attempted suicide; sentenced to death but appealed
[4] Compiled from: Red Star News
Case review
On the morning of August 26, 2021, the Intermediate People's Court of Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, publicly pronounced the first-instance verdict on the case of Wu Xieyu for intentional homicide, fraud and trading of identity documents in accordance with the law. The defendant Wu Xieyu was convicted of intentional homicide, fraud and trading of identity documents. He was sentenced to death, deprived of political rights for life and fined 103,000 yuan.
After trial, the court found that the defendant Wu Xieyu was pessimistic and world-weary, had suicidal thoughts, and after his father's death, he believed his mother, Xie Tianqin's life had lost its meaning. In the first half of 2015, he contemplated killing Xie Tianqin and purchased tools for the crime online. At around 17:00 on July 10, 2015, Wu Xieyu took advantage of Xie Tianqin's return home to change shoes, repeatedly striking her head and face with a dumbbell bar, causing her death. He then placed 75 layers of bedsheets, plastic film, activated carbon packs, and refrigerator deodorizer on the body. Later, Wu Xieyu concealed the truth that Xie Tianqin had been killed from relatives and friends, fabricating that Xie accompanied him abroad for exchange and study, and used the excuse of needing living expenses, tuition, and proof of financial means to defraud relatives and friends of 1.44 million yuan, which he squandered. To evade investigation, Wu Xieyu purchased more than ten identification documents to conceal his identity.
The court held that the defendant Wu Xieyu deliberately and illegally deprived other people's lives, and his behavior constituted the crime of intentional homicide; for the purpose of illegal possession, concealing the truth, fabricating facts, and defrauding other people's money, the amount was particularly huge, and his behavior constituted the crime of fraud; in order to evade criminal punishment, the purchase of identity documents has constituted the crime of buying and selling identity documents and should be punished in accordance with the law. Wu Xie Yu in order to carry out the crime of intentional murder, after a long period of premeditation, planning, subjective viciousness is extremely deep, criminal means cruel. Wu Xieyu's killing of his mother seriously violated family ties and trampled on the normal feelings of human society. The social impact was extremely bad and the crime was extremely serious. After arriving at the case, although truthfully confess the facts of the crime, it is not enough to give him a lighter punishment. The above judgment was made.
On August 30th, after meeting with Wu Xieyu, his lawyer stated that Wu Xieyu would appeal and his appeal period would end on September 5th.
"Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China"
Article 232 [Intentional Homicide]
Whoever intentionally commits homicide shall be sentenced to death, life imprisonment, or fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years; if the circumstances are relatively minor, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years.
Article 266 [Fraud Crime]
Whoever defrauds public or private property, if the amount is relatively large, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, or public surveillance, and shall also, or shall only, be fined; if the amount is huge or there are other serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than ten years, and shall also be fined; if the amount is especially huge or there are other especially serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than ten years or life imprisonment, and shall also be fined or have property confiscated. Where this Law otherwise provides, such provisions shall prevail.
Article 280, Paragraph 3
[Crime of Forging, Altering, or Trafficking Identity Documents]
Whoever forges, alters, or buys or sells resident identity cards, passports, social security cards, driver's licenses, or other documents that can be used to prove identity according to law shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, public surveillance, or deprivation of political rights, and shall also be fined; if the circumstances are serious, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years, and shall also be fined.
[1] The author's perspective
In fact, at the first public trial on December 24 last year, Wu Xieyu said that he had planned to kill his mother and end it on his own. But after seeing the tragedy at the scene, he gave up suicide. He shivered and said, "It's terrible, terrible". In addition, Wu Xie Yu's uncle and uncle have forgiven Wu Xie Yu and signed a letter of understanding, hoping that the judiciary will be lenient. Uncle Wu Xie Yu said that he still hopes Wu Xie Yu can survive. If Wu Xie Yu chooses to appeal, he will fully support it.
In fact, the author believes that the most fundamental problem with Wu Xieyu is that he is too self-righteous. He thinks that his mother wants to leave with his father, and he believes that everything he thinks is right and must be done. Even if it violates the law, he still insists on his own way. But you are not a fish. How can you know the joy of a fish? How could Wu Xieyu possibly know his mother's innermost thoughts? In this self-assumed situation, Wu Xieyu ended his mother's precious life with his own hands. Whether he truly repented later or not, he always lost his mother who loved him the most. The reason why this case has caused such a stir in society is not only because Wu Xieyu was a top student from Peking University, but also because his act of killing his mother is outrageous! Even though Wu Xieyu expressed his guilty plea and acceptance of punishment in his subsequent self-defense, and earnestly requested the court to give him a chance to reform himself, a mistake is still a mistake, just as Wu Xieyu himself said - — “ No reason can be a reason for committing a crime. That's it. ”
