Accused almond milk poisoner pleads guilty in death of boy, 5
Print Edition
a 20-year-old vocational school student charged with murder and manslaughter pled guilty yesterday during the trial of the case at the Haidian District People’s Court in Beijing.
Prosecutors say a 5-year-old boy died after drinking tainted almond milk prepared by the defendant, Pan Xiaoming, according the court. The drinks in question were originally intended for Pan’s step-grandmother, a 69-year-old woman surnamed Yang, prosecutors told the court.
Pan offered several boxes of almond milk injected with sodium nitrate to Yang in October, 2013, prosecutors said. Pan was said to have purchased 500 grams of the toxic substance in July of that year.
After drinking from one of the tainted boxes, Yang allegedly felt sick and returned the drinks to Pan. At this point, according to prosecutors, Pan abandoned his plot, pouring several of the poisoned boxes down a drain.
Pan’s mother, who was unaware of her son’s plans, threw the remaining nine boxes into a litter bin on January 5, 2014, prosecutors told the court. From there, the drinks allegedly made their way to a garbage recycler surnamed Xu, who shared them with her young son. The boy died of sodium nitrate poisoning on January 6, 2014.
Police quickly traced the tainted boxes to Pan, who reportedly confessed the day after the child’s death.
Pan, his disabled parents and grandparents lived together in a 60-square-meter apartment owned by Pan’s grandfather, according to the court.
Knowing that Yang was not his biological grandmother, Pan told the court that he feared that she would drive his family out of the house after the death of his grandfather.
To ensure his family didn’t lose their home, Pan said he decided to kill Yang.
Pan expressed regret to the court for his actions. “I have to pay for my mistake. I would like to take every effort to compensate the victim’s family. And I hope I can atone for hurting my grandparents,” he told the court.
The court’s verdict will be announced later.
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