MURDER – A Chinese couple have been executed after the father killed his two toddlers by throwing them off a balcony because his new girlfriend saw them as a ‘burden on their future together’.
Father Zhang Bo and his girlfriend Ye Chengchen were previously found responsible for the fatal falls of the two children from the 15th floor of a residential tower in southwest China’s Chongqing.
Details of the Affair
Zhang, who was the father of the two children, had begun an affair with Ye, who was initially unaware he was married and had children. Zhang wanted to marry her, but she refused since she already had children and so did her parents.
She then urged Zhang to kill his two children, which she ‘regarded as obstacles’ to their getting married and a ‘burden on their future life together’, the Chongqing No. 5 Intermediate People’s Court said in a statement.
In November 2020, Zhang threw his children – daughter Zhang Ruixue, 2, and son Zhang Yangrui, 1, – out of the window of the apartment he man before running downstairs to appear grief-stricken at what had just happened.
‘It was all a sham’
Zhang was filmed banging his head on the wall and crying uncontrollably, which prosecutors said was all a sham.
The Lies He Sold
He claimed at the time that he was asleep when the children fell out of the window and said he was woken up by people shouting downstairs after discovering the bodies on a grass lawn.
The Children Died
The little girl died instantly, while the baby boy died shortly after from his injuries.
The children’s mother, Chen Meilin, told local media that Zhang asked to look after his daughter on the day that he killed both of them despite the former couple sharing custody, with the mother taking care of the girl and the father of the boy.
The Girlfriend Instigated him
Chen said Zhang killed his children after his girlfriend slit her wrists: ‘At that time, Zhang was on a video phone call with Ye. She slit her wrists and then Zhang got scared.
‘The phone was dropped, he picked up the two children, and threw them from the balcony.’
According to local media, the father admitted he and Ye had plotted to kill the children so that they could start a new family without any children from his former marriage.
Victim Impact Statement
The suspect’s ex-wife said: ‘The moment I heard my kids were actually thrown out of the 15th-floor by their father and the mistress, I couldn’t find any words to describe my feelings.
‘I couldn’t imagine what my kids had experienced from the 15th floor to the ground. Were they desperate? Were they afraid?’
She claimed her ex-husband cried in court and apologised for his actions while his girlfriend denied accusations against her many times.
They Were Found Guilty
Both were found guilty of conspiring ‘to kill his daughter and younger son by staging an accidental fall from the 15th floor of his apartment building’, state-backed China Daily reported last year.
Executed Today
The couple were sentenced to death in December 2021 and executed today, the court said.
The news came the same day as another high-profile execution – of Wu Xieyu, found guilty of killing his mother by repeatedly striking her with a dumbbell in 2015, a statement by a court in eastern Fujian province said.
