Man on trial for killing woman by throwing brick from high-rise building

The mental state of a man involved in a case where he allegedly killed a young woman by throwing a brick from a high-rise building was debated during the trial of the case in Changchun, Northeast China's Jilin province, on Monday.

The incident occurred in June when the victim, surnamed Lou, went to Changchun to see a friend and was visiting a snack street. The brick thrown by the man, surnamed Zhou, allegedly struck her head and she died instantly.

Zhou, 23, surrendered himself to police right after the incident. According to his confession to police, he originally planned to commit suicide by jumping off a building due to personal problems, but lacked the courage. Instead, he chose to throw objects from high-rise buildings in the hopes of being sentenced to death.

"I didn't have a specific target," Zhou told the police. "I randomly chose Changchun, and I knew the snack street was a bustling area as I live nearby."

According to prosecutors, Zhou not only threw bricks on June 22 that killed Lou, but also threw buckets of water and unopened cans of coke on June 17 in Changchun, which also injured people nearby.

Zhou, from Jiangxi province, was born in 2000. He had a junior high school education and began to work at a young age. Zhou told the police that he was sent to a mental hospital by police in Shanghai in May after being reported when sleeping on a rooftop. He was treated there briefly before his mother came and took him away.

The defense lawyer questioned Zhou's psychological evaluation, which concluded that Zhou's mental state was normal and he was fully responsible for his crime. The defense lawyer cited a specific assessment on schizophrenia, which showed Zhou had abnormal data.

The victim's side argued that Zhou's relatives, including his mother, all testified that Zhou was normal in his mentality and that the mental evaluation in the case is solid as it was made by professionals based on a comprehensive assessment of all factors.

After nearly three hours of hearing, the court announced that a verdict will be given at a later date.

In recent years, incidents of throwing objects from high-rise buildings have been frequently reported by media. Earlier this month, a 6-year-old boy in Shiyan, Hubei province, was hit by a cigarette end from a tall building when playing in the neighborhood and a hole was burnt on his clothes. Similarly, a 4-month-old infant was burnt on her neck by a falling cigarette end in a community in Zhengzhou, Henan province, in August.