Man confesses to killing female taxi driver 18 years ago
By Zhao Wen |
May 23, 2013, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A MAN confessed in court yesterday to killing a female taxi driver 18 years ago, meaning five people convicted in the case may have been wrongly jailed for 16 years.
Jiaxing Intermediate People's Court in Hangzhou heard the suspect, Xiang Shengyuan, 43, who was charged with murder, had a dispute with cabbie Xu Caihua over the fare on March 20, 1995, in the city's Xiaoshan District.
Prosecutors said Xiang found an excuse to stop the taxi, get out and pick up a rock before getting back in the vehicle. During another quarrel, Xiang hit Xu in the face with the rock, grabbed her by the neck and covered her mouth with his hands, leading to her death, the court heard.
Xiang dumped her body on the roadside and fled in the taxi before abandoning the car near a cement plant, the court heard.
No verdict was announced.
Xiang had been sentenced to 20 months in prison for theft in Shaoxing City of Zhejiang Province, according to criminal records.
When police checked his fingerprints, they found it matched one taken from the 1995 crime scene, The Beijing News reported.
On December 29, 1997, Zhejiang Province Higher People's Court sentenced five men to either a death sentence with a reprieve or life in prison.
According to a Beijing News report, all five had been released from prison earlier this year after being locked up for 16 years.
On January 19, Zhejiang Province Higher People's Court said on its website that they may have been wrongly convicted. It added the court would review their convictions as "the wrongs must be corrected."
Zhu Youping, one of the men convicted for Xu's death, was quoted as saying: "Only after the real murderer is found will we be declared innocent."
Jiaxing Intermediate People's Court in Hangzhou heard the suspect, Xiang Shengyuan, 43, who was charged with murder, had a dispute with cabbie Xu Caihua over the fare on March 20, 1995, in the city's Xiaoshan District.
Prosecutors said Xiang found an excuse to stop the taxi, get out and pick up a rock before getting back in the vehicle. During another quarrel, Xiang hit Xu in the face with the rock, grabbed her by the neck and covered her mouth with his hands, leading to her death, the court heard.
Xiang dumped her body on the roadside and fled in the taxi before abandoning the car near a cement plant, the court heard.
No verdict was announced.
Xiang had been sentenced to 20 months in prison for theft in Shaoxing City of Zhejiang Province, according to criminal records.
When police checked his fingerprints, they found it matched one taken from the 1995 crime scene, The Beijing News reported.
On December 29, 1997, Zhejiang Province Higher People's Court sentenced five men to either a death sentence with a reprieve or life in prison.
According to a Beijing News report, all five had been released from prison earlier this year after being locked up for 16 years.
On January 19, Zhejiang Province Higher People's Court said on its website that they may have been wrongly convicted. It added the court would review their convictions as "the wrongs must be corrected."
Zhu Youping, one of the men convicted for Xu's death, was quoted as saying: "Only after the real murderer is found will we be declared innocent."
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