Teacher convicted of murder free from punishment
By Guo Qiang (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-10-09 17:24

A 28-year-old history teacher Li Hengyi, who was convicted of murder after throwing 11-year-old student Zhang Yaoyin to death from the fourth floor of a building, was exempted from criminal punishment following a recent judicial decision that he is suffering from psychopathy, writes the Chengdu Business News on October 9.

Li, a teacher at the Yong Zhou NO 12 middle school in the central province of Hunan was found to have 'pushed Zhang's head against her desk, tramped on her head, whipped her with a steel bar and at last threw her out of a window of a classroom on the fourth floor,' according to previous state media reports.

Others students rushed out of the classroom and classes were suspended after the tragedy, previous media said.

Li's family has received 200,000 yuan (US$25,000) in compensation from the school, but "the planned compensation Li's family charged was 500,000 yuan (US62, 500) and the two sides differ on the amount," the Chengdu-based paper says.

Convicts who suffer from schizophrenia are not capable of making rational judgments, lack self-control and should not receive criminal punishment, according to relevant Chinese law.

According to Clause 18 of China's Criminal Code "if the crime was committed when the person's illness was not in effect, then he or she should bear the full punishment of the law."."

However, there are no legal guidelines on how to handle convicts with mental disorders that exempt them from criminal punishment.

"Li is free from the jail term but he is not exempt from civil compensation," the assistant professor with the Sichuan university law department, Wu Changkang says.

"If the patient is a teenager, his legal guardian will be responsible for paying civil compensation. If patient is an adult and commits a crime, a judgment is needed to determine any wrongful actions on the part of the legal guardian," Wu told the paper, adding that if it is found that the legal guardian failed to fulfill his or her responsibilities, he or she will also receive punishment.

According to official results released from the judicial medical examination center at the Hunan Provincial Neurological Hospital "Li's judicial medical review shows that he suffers from schizophrenia and he was having a schizophrenic episode when committing the crime. He could not judge or control his behavior."

"Li has no ability to judge his own behavior and the center suggests he receive long-term treatment."

"The police are considering excluding him from punitive measures," an unnamed official with the Lengshuitan branch of the Yong Zhou public security bureau told the paper.

"After we received the result, we informed Li's parents and the victim's relatives and we reported them to the local government," the official says.

"According to Chinese law, a schizophrenic is exempt from legal punishment. So Li will not receive criminal punishment," says the official. Li will be admitted into an asylum in Huhuai for treatment

"We will cooperate with the local government in treating our son. As for the 20,000 yuan in medical bill, we will borrow the money to pay it," Li's parents told the paper in a telephone interview.

"It is good for the family and society," the parents say.

But Zhang's parents are not satisfied with the result.

"Why did the school hire a mental patient to serve as a teacher? Who will give my daughter a fair judgment?" the girl's mother asked, adding that she will turn to other departments for help in further dealing with her daughter's murder.

Li's story has raised concern over the judgment of psychopaths.

"The premise for a crime being committed is that the criminal has the ability to judge his actions and control himself," Wu says.

"Murder is a serious crime and the victim's family should be compensated economically, " says Wu.

"In this case, if Li has property, he should compensate the victim's family with his property. If he has no property, his legal guardians should bear the responsibility of compensation."