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William Zheng

A man who attacked a Japanese mother and child with a knife and killed a Chinese bus attendant who tried to defend them has been sentenced to death.
Zhou Jiasheng, 52, was found guilty of murder and wounding by the Suzhou Intermediate People’s Court in the eastern Chinese city where the attack took place in July last year, according to Japanese media reports quoting Tokyo’s foreign ministry.
While the court did not give a detailed explanation of his motives, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported that a Japanese foreign ministry official said Zhou lost the will to live after losing his job and getting into debt.
Zhou appeared in court on Thursday morning for a brief hearing, which lasted for about 10 minutes and was attended by Masaru Okada, the Japanese consul general in Shanghai, along with other diplomatic staff.
Chinese authorities did not say whether Zhou would appeal against the sentence.
The case has attracted considerable attention in Japan and many journalists gathered in front of the court building for the hearing.

“The crime, which killed one person and wounded two, including an innocent child, is totally unacceptable, and we gravely accept the ruling,” the Japanese foreign ministry official told Kyodo.
Zhou attacked the woman and child as they were waiting for a bus in Suzhou and then tried to get onto a bus that was carrying Japanese schoolchildren, according to media reports from the time.
The Chinese bus attendant, Hu Youping, suffered multiple stab wounds trying to stop him and died from her injuries two days later. She was later honoured by the Chinese government as a “righteous and courageous role model”.
After the attack, the Japanese government asked Beijing to ensure the safety of its citizens in China.
It repeated the call following a second fatal attack in September, when a 10-year-old Japanese boy was stabbed by a man in the southern city of Shenzhen on the anniversary of Japan’s 1931 invasion of China.
The boy, the son of a Japanese father and a Chinese mother, died a day after the stabbing.


A 44-year-old Chinese national was detained after the attack and appeared in the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court on Friday.
The defendant admitted wounding the boy with a knife on September 18 last year near a Japanese school in the city, Kyodo reported, quoting Yoshiko Kijima, Japan’s consul general in Guangzhou, who attended the session.
The hearing was closed to the media and Chinese authorities did not make a statement about the session.
Authorities have also not disclosed the suspect’s motive, saying only that it was “an isolated incident”.
Earlier this week, the Chinese authorities executed two men who shocked the nation by carrying out mass killings in November.
Fan Weiqiu, 62, was found guilty of killing 35 people by driving an SUV in a crowd of people in Zhuhai, while Xu Jiajin, 21, stabbed eight people to death at a college in Jiangsu province.


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Hu Youping died from her injuries two days after the attack. Photo: CCTV

The killer was detained at the scene of the attack in Suzhou. Photo: X/kounanronin

China executes 2 after back-to-back mass killings that shook the nation

People burn incense near floral tributes placed outside a sports centre on November 12, the day after a deadly hit-and-run attack in Zhuhai, southern China. Photo: Reuters 

Chinese court sentences Zhuhai car attack driver to death for killing 35 people

Members of the public left tributes to the victims outside the scene of the attack. Photo: AP

The killer’s vehicle drove into crowds of people exercising in Zhuhai last month. Photo: Handout

News

China

Politics

A Chinese woman who tried to stop the attack was killed and a Japanese mother and child were wounded in the eastern city of Suzhou last year


A Chinese woman who tried to stop the attack was killed and a Japanese mother and child were wounded in the eastern city of Suzhou last year.


Crime in China

Japan

Shenzhen