Road-rage baby killer Han Lei sentenced to death, says he will appeal

The man who killed a two-year-old girl on a Beijing street was sentenced to death by a Beijing court yesterday. He will appeal the sentence, contradicting an earlier claim that he would gladly accept death to redeem his sin.

Han Lei, 39, was found guilty of intentional homicide after he pulled the child from her stroller and slammed her to the ground, over a parking space row on July 23, Beijing's No 1 Intermediate People's Court said.

Li Ming , who drove Han away from the scene, received a two-year sentence for harbouring him, and will serve a total of five years as he was on parole for an earlier three-year conviction.

Han was captured on July 24. Li turned himself in the following day. The girl suffered severe head injuries and died a few days later.

The court ruled that Han was clear-minded when he committed the crime but had been drinking earlier.

Surveillance footage also showed Han throwing the baby to the ground, contradicting his claim that he had only thrown the stroller and was unaware that the child was inside.

"There is no proof that Han suddenly lost his sanity in the two seconds when he lifted and threw the toddler, as he could completely remember the details of the quarrel," the court said in a statement.

Xinhua reported that Han informed the court that he would appeal after the verdict was handed down. Li had not yet decided whether he would do so.

Han's decision ran counter to an earlier statement attributed to him in court.

"Give me the death sentence; I welcome it … I don't think there is another way to redeem my sin," he was quoted by Xinhua as saying at the time.

Zhang Guoxin , a friend of Han's, told The Beijing News that Han's family had raised about three million yuan (HK$3.8 million) in compensation before the girl's parents retracted a 2.7 million yuan claim. The family's lawyer said the money would not replace their daughter.

Han was sentenced to life imprisonment for theft in 1996. He was released late last year.