China’s notorious female serial killer Lao Rongzhi sentenced to death for killing 7 people including a child after 20 years on the run

The murders involved robbery and extortion, including one case in which a 3-year-old child was killed

Lao Rongzhi claims her former boyfriend coerced her into taking part and maintains her innocence

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A woman who murdered seven people including a three-year-old girl has been sentenced to death in China. Photo: Handout

Published: 7:00pm, 9 Sep 2021Updated: 9:35am, 10 Sep 2021

A notorious female serial killer who has been on the run for 20 years after killing seven people with her former boyfriend was sentenced to death in southeast China on Thursday.

Lao Rongzhi, aged 47, received the death penalty for her involvement in four cases of robbery, kidnap and murder, including killing a three-year-old girl, more than two decades ago, after being tried at a court in Nanchang, Jiangxi province southeast China, late last year.

The woman, who was caught in 2019, said she would appeal immediately after the Nanchang Intermediate People’s Court pronounced the sentence. During the two-day trial in December, she claimed her involvement in the crimes stopped at kidnapping and robbery and blamed her ex-lover, who had been executed in 1999, for the murders.

During the trial the woman claimed she had been abused by her ex-boyfriend who had coerced her into participating in the crimes. Photo: Handout

“I believe the law will not treat a good person unjustly, neither will it let off a bad person,” a tearful Lao told the court on Thursday, according to a recording published by a higher court, the Jiangxi Higher People‘s Court.

The woman conspired with her ex-boyfriend, Fa Ziying, to kidnap, rob and murder seven people in four different cities including Nanchang, Wenzhou, Changzhou and Hefei, all in southeast China, between 1996 and 1999, the court said.

Lao was mainly responsible for looking for targets, while Fa committed the violence. Lao was directly involved in the killing of five of the victims, and held responsible for the death of two others, according to the court.