This Article is From Aug 13, 2010

Chinese man seeks death penalty for killing entire family

Beijing: A Chinese man who was charged with massacring six members of his family, including his children, pleaded death penalty for himself while attributing his gory act to accumulated grievances against his victims.

"I pleaded to the judges to sentence me to death as soon as they can," Li Lei, who killed his parents, wife, two sons and a younger sister with large knife in November, 2009 said during his court hearing.

Li pleaded guilty and confessed to the crime, state run Peoples Daily reported.

The public hearing for the rare family murder case in Daxing District started in the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court.

According the newspaper, Li in his confessions blamed his family members for treating him "badly".

He said his parents had been very strict with him from his childhood, often scolding and beating him. He accused his younger sister of looking down upon him and making their parents to vent their anger on him.

Li claimed that marriage did not help either as his wife Wang Meiling always found fault with him, quarrelled with him and demanded more money.

He felt miserable living in such a family, he reportedly confessed.

In 2008 itself he had decided to commit the crime and bought a 30 cm long knife and carried it with him every day.

Li's lawyer Pan Zhidong said that Li killed his family because of accumulated grievances among the family.

On the night of the murder, Li's wife quarrelled with him over money. He then acted out of impulse. Pan suggested that the victims also had faults, which he requested the court to take into account while delivering the verdict.
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