China sentences man to death after he wounded 16 students, teacher in knife rampage at school

China sentences man to death for school attack

BEIJING — A former teacher was convicted and sentenced to death Friday for a knife attack at a school in southern China even though no one died in the rampage that was one of a string of violent assaults on schools that shocked the country.

In its verdict, the Intermediate People’s Court of Zhanjiang City in the southern province of Guangdong said Chen Kangbing, 33, “hacked at the children and teacher in a very cruel manner, causing great harm.”

The attack in April at the primary school in Leizhou city wounded 16 students and their teacher, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. It said Chen was a former teacher who suffered from mental illness and had been on sick leave since 2006.

While China imposes the death penalty for a wide range of crimes, it was almost certain to be applied in Chen’s case to assuage popular anger and avert potential social unrest.

It was one of five major assaults against schoolchildren in the last two months have killed 17 people and hurt more than 50. Authorities blamed them on people with personal grudges or suffering from mental illness. The attacks have frightened parents and the government, and lead to calls for improved security.

In May, Chinese authorities executed Xu Yuyuan, 47, for slashing 29 children and three teachers with a knife.

The man convicted in the first of the five school attacks, Zheng Minsheng, was executed in April for killing eight children with a knife in the southern province of Fujian on March 23.

All the attackers have been men in their 30s or 40s. They all used knives or hammers — guns are tightly controlled in China and obtaining them is virtually impossible.