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March 29, 2012

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Trio gets death penalty for murder in quake-hit area

THREE farmers in Longnan City in northwest China's Gansu Province were sentenced to death for killing two people and robbing 500 yuan (US$79.45) from earthquake relief funds.

Wang Zengde, 42, a robber who had been jailed for life and bailed out for medical treatment, and his two accomplices, Guo Heping and Wang Zhengcai, committed the robbery and murder in October 2008, even as the area was still reeling from the effects of the massive 8.0-magnitude earthquake in May.

They broke into a tent, which was allocated to the director of the village committee, surnamed Wang, for emergency disaster relief, tied a rope around his neck and beat him to death with a wooden rod, Lanzhou Morning Post reported yesterday.

The trio also killed his wife before taking away 500 yuan.

Wang Zengde's name was not on the list of quake-hit villagers who could get relief funds, and therefore "I vented my anger on the village official," he said, adding "I saw Wang giving out money to villagers in his tent, which triggered my evil intentions."

The trio was nabbed in November 2008. Inside Wang Zengde's tent, police seized a 70-plus-meter blasting fuse, two detonators and 3 kilograms of TNT, the report said.

They have appealed the court ruling with the Longnan City Intermediate People's Court and pleaded for leniency.

The 8.0-magnitude quake which hit southwest China killed 87,000 people.




 

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