China sentences school attacker to death

BEIJING: A Chinese court on Friday sentenced to death a man who injured 16 children and a teacher in an April knife attack at a primary school in the south of the country, state press said.

An intermediate court in Guangdong province sentenced Chen Kangbing to death for the attack at the Hongfu Primary School, Xinhua news agency reported.

The assault was one of a number that took place in China in a period of less than two months from March until May, leaving 17 people - including 15 children - dead and more than 80 injured.

“Chen hacked at the children and teacher in a very cruel manner, causing great harm,” the report quoted the court in the city of Zhanjiang as saying in its verdict.

The attacks have shocked the nation and prompted emergency measures including beefing up school security and stepping up monitoring of persons known to have mental illnesses.

Two of the attackers committed suicide, while two others have already been sentenced to death and executed.

Chen admitted his guilt during the trial, according to Xinhua. It was not immediately clear if he would appeal the verdict.

Experts said the assaults show China is paying the price for focusing on economic growth for decades while ignoring mental health problems linked to the nation’s rapid social change.

One attacker who was executed late last month, Xu Yuyuan, said at his trial that his motive was to vent rage against society after losing money gambling and in business dealings, and suffering setbacks in his personal life.

The unemployed Xu carried out a bloody assault on 32 people, mostly small children, at a kindergarten in east China’s Jiangsu province in April.

A former doctor who stabbed to death eight children and injured five others on March 23 in southeast China was also executed last month.

Studies have cited a rise in mental disorders in China, some linked to stress as society becomes more fast-paced and old socialist supports have been scrapped.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2010.