Man sentenced to death for killing wife

A man who admitted killing his 53-year-old wife, Lai Huili, was sentenced to death by the Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court in Zhejiang province on Monday.

Xu Guoli, 55, Lai's husband, previously confessed in court that he killed his sleeping wife on the morning of July 5 in 2020 because of family conflicts and then dismembered her body and discarded the remains around the residential community where the couple lived.

Xu blamed frequent family conflicts in recent years for his actions, adding that the couple had grown apart for economic reasons. He said he purchased knives and other tools in preparation for the murder.

Late on July 4 in 2020, Xu put sleeping pills into his wife's milk and later smothered her with pillows. He dismembered her body in the toilet using a cutting tool he had purchased.