Man gets death sentence for brutal killing of mom

Wu Xieyu, an academically outstanding Peking University student who brutally killed his mother, was sentenced to death for murder, fraud and buying others' ID cards by Fuzhou Intermediate People's Court today.

Wu was also fined 103,000 yuan (US$15,903) by the court.

Wu's horrendous act, meticulous effort to cover up the crime and years of fleeing during which he lived a secret life using others' ID cards attracted nationwide attention.

The court said Wu became pessimistic and suicidal after his father passed away in 2010 from cancer. Wu thought the life of his mother Xie Tianqin had also become meaningless.

He started to consider the idea of "relieving his mother from the pain" of losing her husband by killing her from early 2015. He bought tools online.

He used dumbbell bars to hit his mother's head several times, causing her death around 5pm on July 10, 2015, the court found. He covered Xie's body with 75 layers of sheets and plastic film stuffed with carbon bags and refrigerator deodorizers to reduce the odor.

He then lied to relatives, claiming his mother would accompany him to study overseas, and borrowed 1.44 million yuan from them, subsequently squandering all of it.

To evade police, he bought over 10 ID cards from others during his time on the run.

Police received a report of Xie being found dead at her home on February 14, 2016. An investigation found the murder took place in July 2015 and police targeted her son Wu as the suspect.

Wu was not found by police until April 21, 2019, when he was caught on security cameras at Jiangbei International Airport in southwest China's Chongqing. The security check showed his images highly matched the person wanted by police.

Wu spent a long time premeditating and planning the murder and his malice and cruelty were appalling. Although he confessed to the crimes, he didn't deserve leniency, said the court.