Driver Who Killed 35 In China Car Ramming Sentenced To Death

A man who killed 35 people in a car attack in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai last month was sentenced to death on Friday, state media reported.

On November 11, 62-year-old Fan Weiqiu deliberately drove through people exercising outside a sports complex in his small SUV, the worst attack in China since 2014.

He was detained at the scene with self-inflicted knife injuries and fell into a coma, police said at the time.

His case was publicly tried on Friday, state broadcaster CCTV reported, with the verdict reached on the same day.

The court said the defendant’s motives “were extremely vile, the nature of the crime extremely egregious, the methods particularly cruel, and the consequences particularly severe, posing significant harm to society”, state media said.

In front of some of the victims’ families, officials and members of the public, Fan pleaded guilty, it added.

The court found Fan had “decided to vent his anger” over “a broken marriage, personal frustrations, and dissatisfaction with the division of property after divorce”, the report said.

China has this year seen a string of mass casualty incidents — from stabbings to car attacks — challenging its reputation for good public security.

Some analysts have linked the incidents to growing anger and desperation at the country’s slowing economy and a sense that society is becoming more stratified.