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China to execute toddler-killer who threw child from her pram in parking row

Han Lei given the death penalty after hurling pram thinking it was a shopping trolley

Heather Saul
Wednesday 25 September 2013 11:12 BST
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Han Lei has been sentenced to death in China for killing a toddler after throwing the child out of her pram.
Han Lei has been sentenced to death in China for killing a toddler after throwing the child out of her pram.

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A Beijing court has convicted a man of intentional homicide and sentenced him to death for hurling a toddler to the ground in a parking space dispute.

Han Lei threw the toddler out of her pram following a dispute with her mother over a parking space.

The two-year-old girl died in a hospital shortly after from the severe injuries she sustained during the incident.

Lei fled the scene but was detained by police the following day. In court, he said he had been drinking and thought the pram was a shopping trolley.

The court said Han, 39, was looking for a parking space when he got out of his car, telling the mother that the carriage was in his way for parking. After she refused to make way for his vehicle, he pulled the toddler out of the pram.

Han also beat the mother during his attack.

“At that time I didn't know it was a baby carriage. I thought because the woman had just been shopping that it was a shopping cart,” state media quoted Han as saying in court.

His lawyer said he had not intended to cause the girl's death, but the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court convicted him of intentional homicide and gave him the death penalty today.

A second man, Li Ming, who drove Han away from the scene, was sentenced to five years in prison for hiding the suspect, the statement said.

Han's death sentence will be reviewed by the Supreme People's Court, as required of all death penalties in China.

Additional reporting by Associated Press

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