Death sentence upheld for school stabber

The Shanghai High People's Court rejected an appeal and upheld the death sentence for Huang Yichuan, a knife attacker who killed two elementary school student, while injuring another and a parent, the court announced on Monday afternoon.

Huang was expressionless and silent during the hearing. The final verdict will be reviewed by the Supreme People's Court.

According to the court, Huang's attack was premeditated. He attacked three students and a parent, all of whom were defenseless, near the Shanghai World Foreign Language Primary School in June 2017, causing the deaths of two students.

Huang confessed to the crime after being arrested. According to a forensic evaluation, Huang suffers from schizophrenia and his defense argued for limited criminal responsibility.

The Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court, which was the first to hear Huang's case, gave little weight to Huang's mental condition and issued a death penalty following his conviction.

Huang's lawyer claimed that he was not in his right mind during the attack, and provided evidence to the court from his first trial to illustrate a family history of mental disorder.

On Monday, the high court ruled that Huang's attack was premeditated based on his actions prior to the crime. These included wandering around the school before to the attack and stalking several students.

The high court also cited findings provided by the Academy of Forensic Science which indicated that Huang was in control of his behavior during his crime.

Evidence of abnormal behavior from Huang several years prior to the attack was also dismissed as irrelevant to the current case. Huang's statements of remorse, as well as his claims that he didn't try to kill the third student and his parent, were also taken as proof that he could control himself.

The high court rejected Huang's appeal for additional expert opinion, a retrial and a sentence reduction to life in prison.

According to his earlier trial, Huang came up with his idea to kill innocent victims as a way to vent his anger against perceived offenses from others.

Between March and October 2017, he searched for an attack site by visiting several cities, including Shanghai and Guangzhou, where he took pictures of kindergartens and primary schools.

On June 6, he went to Shanghai again and later targeted children at the Shanghai World Foreign Language Primary School after making observations at the site several times.

At 7am on June 28, 2017, he carried a knife and waited near the school. At about 11:30am, he followed three pupils, surnamed Tan, Fei, Jin and a parent surnamed Zhang and used the knife to attack the four victims.

His attack caused fatal injures to two children. Jin and Zhang suffered injuries to their heads and other areas which were not life-threatening.