Chinese woman jailed for 15 years after burning her mother to death
- Family gathering ends in murder when daughter sets fire to her mother’s hair because she disapproved of love life
A young woman in northeast China who killed her mother last year by setting her on fire has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for murder.
The woman from Shenyang, Liaoning province, identified only as Li, testified that her mother, Zhang, 49, had disapproved of her love life and they did not have a good relationship, according to Huashang Morning News.
Li was home for a family photo last December when she asked her mother if she needed help watering the plants.
She had emptied three cans of paint thinner into a bucket which she then poured over Zhang’s head, according to the newspaper report.
Chinese girl, 16, kills mother after she was sent to internet addiction ‘boot camp’: report
“My mother was bragging about my younger brother’s results and that’s when I decided to pour the thinner on her and light her hair on fire,” Li said.
“I could hear her crying for help as I ran out of the building.”
Zhang suffered serious burns and died days later, from an infection to her wounds.
After leaving the house, Li lodged a report with the local police, claiming her mother had planned to self-immolate because she did not approve of her romantic partner.
Emergency services received a separate statement from Li’s father, and she was arrested on December 20. She later confessed to her crime.
China has been rocked by several matricide cases in the past.
In 2016, a 16-year-old girl killed her mother because she was angry at being sent to one of China’s internet addiction boot camps. And in 2015, Tang Yuanxi, a Chinese man studying in Vancouver, Canada, was sentenced to a minimum of 17 years in jail after killing his mother and stuffing her body into a suitcase.
