Chinese court sentences man to death over knife attack outside Japanese school

A Chinese man who injured a Japanese mother and her child and killed a Chinese bus attendant trying to protect them in a knife attack near Shanghai last June has been sentenced to death, according to a Japanese government official.

A court in the city of Suzhou said Zhou Jiasheng, 52, stabbed the three because he was in debt and did not want to live any longer, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo on Thursday.

The case was one of two stabbing attacks on Japanese children in China last year that raised concerns about increased anti-Japanese sentiment in the country. Tokyo asked Beijing to ensure the safety of its citizens in China.

Mr Hayashi said the court ruling, which was not immediately available, made no reference to Japan.

“We believe the crime that killed and injured the innocent people including a child was absolutely unforgivable, and we take the ruling seriously,” Mr Hayashi said.

He said officials from the Japanese Consulate in Shanghai were present at the court sentencing.

The stabbing occurred at a bus stop for a Japanese school in Suzhou on June 24. A female bus attendant, Hu Youping, who tried to stop the attack died of stab wounds days later. The Japanese mother and child were not seriously injured.

In September, a 10-year-old Japanese student died after being stabbed near his school in the southern city of Shenzhen.

Other stabbing attacks involving foreigners last year were isolated incidents, the Chinese government said.

In June, a Chinese man stabbed four US university instructors at a public park in Jilin in the north east of the country as well as a Chinese person who tried to intervene.

In May, a knife attack at a hospital in southwestern China killed two people and injured 21 others.