Official-killer waitress exempted on court

(Xinhua/China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-16 15:02

BADONG, Hubei Province -- A woman accused of stabbing an official to death and injuring another in self-defence in an alleged sexual assault on May 10 was exempted from criminal punishment by a local court Tuesday in Badong County, central China's Hubei Province.

Deng Yujiao, 21, a pedicurist, was charged by local procurators with intentionally injuring others.

The first trial was held in the morning.

Deng's lawyers, Wang Shaopeng and Liu Gang, have earlier said that she is innocent, according to the Caijing Magazine.

Police believed Deng, 21, conducted "excessive defense" when she allegedly killed Deng Guida and injured Huang Dezhi with a knife after she refused to join them in a bath on May 10. The two men are township officials of Badong county, under the administration of Enshi.

The men pushed, shoved and insulted Deng, according to a police statement from the Enshi Public Security Bureau.

The case has caused huge public uproar as police initially investigated the case as murder.

Before the trial, Deng was diagnosed with a "mental imbalance", which could result in a mitigation of criminal punishments, Caijing reported Monday.

People who suffer from a "mental imbalance" usually show symptoms of both depression and anxiety, according to the report.

"No matter whether Deng is diagnosed as mentally imbalanced, she should be released or given a suspended sentence, " said Zhou Ze, a lawyer and professor with China Youth College for Political Science in Beijing.

People who are given suspended jail sentences are allowed to remain outside prison for a certain period of time. If during that time they commit no crime, the rest of their jail sentence is waived.