China - Two teen boys sentenced to life in prison for murder

Three teen boys have shocked the world after they murdered their classmate with a shovel.

Three suspects, all aged 13 at the time of the murder, were accused in April of bullying a 13-year-old classmate surnamed Wang over a long period before ultimately killing him in an abandoned greenhouse in March.

The details of the heinous crime in which the killers reportedly attacked Wang with a shovel before burying his body, drew public attention to how the law deals with juveniles accused of serious crimes.

The three boys, surname Huang, Li and Ma faced the court in Heibei.

Huang was sentenced to life in prison as he was the ring leader and for intentional homicide by a court in the city of Handan in the province of Hebei, China’s CCTV said on Monday.

Li was sentenced to 12 years in prison and Ma was sentenced to correctional education. Ma was given a lighter sentence because he did not take part in the killing.

No motive was given.

The court found the methods of the killing “were particularly cruel, and the circumstances were particularly heinous”, it added.

Sidenote

What a world