Man who killed Beijing doctor sentenced to death

Sun Wenbin, who fatally stabbed a doctor at a hospital in Beijing last month was sentenced to death by the Beijing No 3 Intermediate People's Court on Thursday.

Yang Wen was working in the emergency department at Civil Aviation General Hospital in Chaoyang district on Dec 24 when Sun stabbed her in the neck with a knife. Seriously injured, the doctor died early the following day.

Sun, 55, is the son of a 95-year-old female patient at the hospital who has been bedridden for years after a stroke.

Sun was charged with intentional homicide early this month.

The court said Sun, who pleaded guilty, had deliberately and illegally deprived someone of their life. That constituted the extremely serious crime of intentional homicide and should be punished to the full extent of the law.

The court said that although Sun confessed after giving himself up to police, the nature of his brutal crime caused serious consequences and great social harm.

Death penalties in China have to be confirmed by the Supreme People's Court and it is not known whether Sun plans to appeal against the intermediate court verdict.