Man sentenced to death in China for pushing wife into sea, using insurance payout on prostitutes
Husband takes out four life insurance policies for wife two months after marriage, naming himself as sole beneficiary
A man in China was sentenced to death after pushing his wife into the sea from a ferry and attempting to claim her life insurance compensation to pay off debts and finance the use of prostitutes.
The case of the husband, 47, surnamed Li, was reported by China’s state broadcaster CCTV on November 21. He received the capital punishment for intentional homicide from the Liaoning Higher People’s Court in December last year. However, it remains unclear whether the sentence has been carried out.
On May 5, 2021, while travelling on a ferry from Dalian in northeastern China’s Liaoning province to Yantai in eastern China’s Shandong province, his wife, also surnamed Li, fell over the railing into the sea.
The police discovered her body after a 45-minute search. Upon hearing of his wife’s death, the husband appeared paralysed, sitting on the ground in shock.
Although he claimed the incident was accidental, police grew suspicious because the location where the victim fell was in a blind spot of the ferry’s surveillance system, which consists of over 200 cameras.
Forensic experts also found bruises on her face.