Man’s wish granted — death for killing baby

BEIJING: A man who killed a twoyear-old girl by throwing her to the ground has been sentenced to death by a court here.

The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court handed the death sentence to Han Lei, 39, on charges of intentional homicide yesterday.

Han had reportedly told prosecutors in August that he felt so guilty anddistressed that he wanted to die, the Beijing News reported at the time.

“I caused such a calamity for the child ... please make sure that I am sentenced to death,” the paper quoted him as saying. “I don’t want to live any more.”

Han took the nearly three-yearold child from her pram and threw her to the ground near a bus stop in Beijing in July after her mother refused to make way for him to park his car, media have reported.

He and a friend in the car drove away and the toddler died two days later of her injuries, the reports said.

Han fled but was apprehended the next day. He was charged with murder.

Xinhua said that Han committed the crime less than a year after being released from prison.

Han was sentenced to life in prison in 1996 for stealing a car but was released after the sentence was commuted.

In a similar case, a policeman has been detained accused of grabbing a seven-month-old baby girl from her parents in July after drinking with friends in Linzhou in Henan province and throwing her to the ground, fracturing her skull. — Xinhua / AFP