Didi driver pleads guilty to rape, murder of passenger

A 28-year-old carpool driver pleaded guilty on Friday to raping and killing a passenger, ending a high-profile case that triggered a safety overhaul of the country's hitch carpooling service.

Zhong Yuan, the 28-year-old defendant, pleaded guilty in court to raping and murdering a 20-year-old woman who booked a hitch carpooling service from Didi Chuxing on Aug 24 in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, according to a release from the Wenzhou Intermediate People's Court.

Zhong, a native of Sichuan province, had owed debts from online peer-to-peer lending platforms due to gambling, and deliberately planned in advance on robbing female passengers while working as a hitch driver for Didi Chuxing, the nation's largest car-hailing company, prosecutors said.