China sentences woman to death for trafficking in seventeen children

SINGAPORE: A woman has been sentenced to death in China for kidnapping and trafficking 17 children in three different provinces between 1993 and 2003.

The retrial of Yu Huaying, 61, has attracted widespread public interest nationwide after her crimes came to light in 2022 when a 34-year-old victim reported her ordeal of being trafficked by Yu.

Yu Huaying was found guilty of child kidnapping after the retrial.

“The circumstances and consequences of the crimes are extremely serious and she should be severely punished,” the Guiyang Intermediate People’s Court said in a verdict shared on the official Weibo page on Friday (Oct 25).

Although Yu confessed to her crimes, it was “not enough to justify a lighter sentence,” the court added.

In China, the death penalty is imposed in the most extreme cases for crimes such as drug trafficking, murder and rape, courts say. Death sentences have also been handed down for cases of political corruption and bribery.

Under Chinese law, anyone found guilty of trafficking women or children faces a prison sentence of five to 10 years, as well as a fine.

Due to the “particularly serious consequences” of her crimes, Yu received the harshest sentence “in accordance with the law,” the court said.

She was also “deprived of her political rights” and all personal property would be confiscated, it added.

TRAFFICKING HER OWN CHILD

Yu’s own son was her first victim. Chinese state media reported that Yu trafficked her biological son, eventually selling him for 5,000 yuan ($701).

She then kidnapped seventeen children from twelve families, with five of the families losing two children at a time.