China has executed a couple for throwing two young children out of the window of an apartment building, in a case that caused nationwide outrage.
Zhang Bo and Ye Chengchen were previously found responsible for the fatal falls of the two-year-old girl and one-year-old boy from the 15th floor of a residential tower in Chongqing, south-west China.
Zhang, who was the father of the two children, had begun an affair with Ye, who was initially unaware he was married and had children.
She then urged Zhang to kill his two children, who she “regarded as obstacles” to them marrying and a “burden on their future life together”, the Chongqing No. 5 Intermediate People’s Court said in a statement.
In November 2020, Zhang threw his children out of the window of the apartment in the absence of their mother, with whom he had agreed to divorce.
She urged her lover to kill his two children, who she regarded as obstacles to them marrying and a burden on their future life together
Both were found guilty of conspiring “to kill his daughter and younger son by staging an accidental fall from the 15th floor of his apartment building”, the state-backed newspaper China Daily reported last year.
The couple were sentenced to death in December 2021 and executed on Wednesday, January 31, 2024, the court said.
the children’s dad staged their accidental fall from the 15th floor of his apartment building
Zhang and Ye’s crime sent shock waves across China for its cold-blooded premeditation, as well as the age of the victims.
Their executions quickly rose to the top of a list of trending topics on the Chinese social media site Weibo on Wednesday, receiving nearly 200 million views.
“Today is truly a good day,” read one widely liked comment under a related post by the state news agency Xinhua.
“The punishment fits the crime,” wrote another.
