Beijing:
A Chinese man who brutally stabbed 23 primary school students and an elderly woman last year was today sentenced to death by a court in central China.
Min Yongjun, 36, was sentenced by the Intermediate People's Court in Xinyang City, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Min had wounded 23 elementary school students at a school in Guangshan County, Henan Province, on December 14 last year.
He had initially stabbed an elderly woman in Chenpeng Village, then broke into the village elementary school, where he attacked 23 students.
Police investigation indicated that the "doomsday" rumours that swept society in late 2012 had driven Min to carry out the attack, the report said.
Although Min was diagnosed to be of "limited capacity" through forensic psychiatric evaluation, the court held that he had "subjective culpability of mind" when he conducted the mass knife attack.
The court noted that the incident left the victims and their families with great pain and it also had extremely adverse social effects.