Beijing (TIP): A Chinese woman who was allegedly involved in several robberies, abductions and the murder of seven people has been sentenced to death by a local court in the southeastern Jiangxi Province.

Lao Rongzhi conspired with her then-boyfriend in several robberies, abductions and murders in various provinces during 1996-1999 that led to the death of seven people, Nanchang Intermediate People’s Court said in its judgement on september 9.

Lao was arrested in November 2019 after absconding for some 20 years using pseudonyms, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The court also stripped her of her political rights and ordered that all her personal property be confiscated. After hearing the court’s first instance verdict, Lao cried in court and said she would appeal the ruling, the state-run Global Times reported.

According to the People’s Procuratorate of Nanchang city, between 1996 and 1999, Lao committed four kidnappings, robbery and murder in East China’s Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces together with her then-boyfriend Fa Ziying.

The two conspired and divided the work, with Lao working as a hostess in entertainment venues to find rich people to commit crimes. Seven people were killed, and Lao was involved in killing five of them and robbing a large sum of money.

Fa was captured in Hefei in 1999 and was sentenced to death. Lao then became a fugitive and used fake identities to evade, and was finally captured in Xiamen in 2019 after nearly 20 years on the run.

During the trial which began in December, Lao repeatedly argued that collusion did not exist and that she was also a victim, saying that she was used and coerced by Fa when she was 21 years old.

Lao tearfully apologised to the victim’s family and offered to compensate.

After the trial, the court held that Lao’s behaviour constituted the crime of intentional homicide, robbery and kidnapping. At the same time, because Lao’s criminal methods were particularly cruel, the purpose was extremely vicious, and the circumstances of her offenses were extremely serious.

Although Lao confessed to the crimes, she couldn’t be leniently punished.

Zhu Dahong, the widow of Lu Zhongming, one of the victims in the case who observed the sentencing said she felt relieved after the verdict was announced and would take her children to visit Lu’s grave. —PTI