Student accused of murdering his mother stands trial

Wu Xieyu, a former Peking University student accused of killing his mother five years ago, stood trial at the Fuzhou Intermediate People's Court in Fujian province on Thursday.

He was charged with intentional homicide, fraud and illegal identity card purchase, the court said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Wu, 26, prepared to kill his mother, then 48, in early 2015 and did the killing at home in Fuzhou on July 10 that year with some knives he had bought online.

Wu later "borrowed" 1.44 million yuan ($220,000) from relatives and friends after deceiving them by saying that his mother would be accompanying him when he traveled overseas to study, prosecutors said, adding that he squandered the money instead.

His mother's body was found on Feb 14, 2016, in her apartment in the faculty dormitory of a middle school in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian, after family members became suspicious after failing to get in touch with her for a long time.

In March 2016, Fuzhou police offered a reward for information leading to Wu's arrest, saying he was a suspect in the killing of his mother, Beijing News reported.

To avoid arrest, Wu bought more than 10 ID cards from others and spent about three years on the run. He was caught in Chongqing in April last year, it said.

"Wu should be penalized, because he took his mother's life deliberately, defrauded others of an extremely large amount of money and purchased ID cards to escape being held liable," prosecutors said.

His behavior constituted the crimes of intentional killing, fraud and ID purchase, they added.

A statement released by the court did not say whether Wu pleaded guilty.

It added it would hand down its verdict later.