Kindergarten Teacher Executed After Poisoning 25 Students
A Chinese kindergarten teacher has been executed for poisoning students.
Wang Yun was sentenced to death in 2020 after she was accused of administering poison to 25 children, one of whom later died.
Her “criminal methods and circumstances were exceedingly bad, with especially severe circumstances, and she should be severely punished in accordance with the law,” her sentencing statement said.
A notice posted outside a court in the Henan province city of Jiaozuo on Friday said the execution had taken place on Thursday, according to The Associated Press.
The poisoning happened on March 27, 2019.
Wang and another kindergarten teacher had quarreled over “student management,” the AP reported.
Wang added sodium nitrite to porridge that was going to be served to the other teacher’s students. Nitrite is used as a preservative, but can be toxic in large doses.
Some children lost consciousness after ingesting the poison and required hospitalization.
A parent quoted by China’s state-run Global Times said he was called about the incident, and when he arrived at the school his child had fainted and others were vomiting, CNN reported.
One child suffered multiple organ failure and died 10 months later.
Wang had used nitrite before. In 2017, she was accused of trying to poison her husband by putting the substance in a glass. Her husband survived.
The AP reported that it was unclear if the teacher wanted to kill those she poisoned or simply wanted to make them ill.
Wang was initially convicted to nine months in prison, but the sentence was later upped to the death penalty. Her appeal of the sentence was denied.
According to the AP, “China is believed to execute more prisoners each year than the rest of the world combined, although the actual figure is a state secret.”
Wang’s execution came days after another deadly attack at a Chinese kindergarten.
On Monday, a 25-year-old man was arrested after allegedly killing six people and wounding one with a knife in the Guangdong province city of Lianjiang, The Associated Press reported.
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