A Chinese court has convicted a man of killing 35 people last month by driving a car into a crowd, in an incident that has sparked concern across the country over mass killings.
Fan Weiqiu was expressing his anger because he was not happy with his divorce, said a court in the southern city of Zhuhai when it handed down the sentence on Friday. The victims were exercising at the sports center. The fan pleaded guilty to endangering public safety by dangerous means, the court statement said.
Fan’s “criminal intent was very heinous, the nature of the crime was very bad, the methods of the crime were cruel, and the consequences of the crime were very bad, causing great harm to the public,” the court said.
The attack was one of several in China in late October and November and prompted Chinese leader Xi Jinping to order local governments to take measures to prevent “major crimes” in the future. His command made vows by local leaders to check their potential conflicts, from marital problems to disagreements over inheritance.
Fan’s sentence was the second to be handed down in quick succession in the weeks since the attacks, much faster than what usually happens in courts in China.
A court earlier this week handed down a two-year suspended death sentence to a driver who injured 30 people while driving for elementary school students and parents in Hunan province. Such sentences are often commuted to life imprisonment.
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The Changde city court said the driver was venting his anger after losing his investment.
Such attacks on crowds, whether by car or knife, are not new in China, but the outbreak this fall and the high number of victims in the Zhuhai attack have renewed focus on the issue. Attackers often take out their anger and frustration over a personal issue in what is known as “social revenge”.
Chinese authorities tightly suppress any reports about the attacks, investigative videos and eyewitness accounts posted on social media and release only basic information, often hours later.
The death toll in Zhuhai was not announced until 24 hours after the attack. Apart from 35 people who died, 43 others were injured, said the police. The driver, Fan, 62 years old, was found in his car trying to stab himself with a knife, said a police statement.
Police closed the barriers the day after the attack and prevented people from entering the stadium. Members of the community left bouquets of flowers near the nearby square.
–Associated Press researcher Yu Bing contributed to this report.
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