Three children identified by their surnames Zhang, Li and Ma, are facing the death penalty for beating their 13-year-old classmate simply identified as Wang, to death leaving him “disfigured beyond recognition in China.
The suspects, all under 14 years old at the time of the murder, are accused of bullying the victim over a period before killing in Northern China’s Hebei province in March, UK Daily Mail reports on Monday, April 8.
Speaking on Chinese social media platform, Douyin, Wang’s father said: “He was beaten alive and his body was disfigured beyond recognition, I hope the government will be fair, open and just, punish them severely, and that the killers will pay with their lives.”
A police investigator told state broadcaster CCTV on March 18 that the crime had been premeditated, with the suspects digging out the pit twice, once the day before and again the day of the killing.
Under Chinese law, murder is punishable by imprisonment or the death penalty.
