The execution of a Chinese couple who murdered the man’s two children from his previous marriage to start a new family together has been approved by China’s top court, China Daily reports. Zhang Bo and his girlfriend Ye Chengchen were believed to have died by lethal injection on Wednesday, Jan. 31, following the approval.
Zhang was convicted of throwing his two children out of a high-rise apartment window from the 15th floor of a residential tower in southwest China’s Chongqing in 2020. Ye was also convicted after the court determined she forced Zhang to kill the young children, a 2-year-old girl and a 1-year-old boy, as she saw them as an “obstacle” and helped stage their deaths as an “accidental” fall, the Independent reports.
The sentence of death for the pair was upheld in 2021, and they were executed after a lengthy appeals process that resulted in a second trial for Zhang and Ye, according to China Daily. The Chongqing High People’s Court upheld the original ruling, with the Supreme People’s Court approving it, finding both their roles and overall influence were equivalent, according to local media.
The motive of the couple was deemed “despicable” and the means “brutal,” warranting severe consequences by the law, according to local media. The most common method of execution in China is lethal injection, according to the Daily Mail.
Zhang had begun an extramarital affair with Ye without disclosing his marriage and children. After divorcing his then-wife, Ye urged Zhang to kill his children, considering them as obstacles to their future life together, according to the court. Videos following the incident showed Zhang in deep grief and claiming he was asleep when the children “fell,” according to the Express.
The children’s mother expressed her shock and sorrow, stating, “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.”
Zhang and Ye’s crime sent shockwaves across China for its “cold-blooded” premeditation and the young age of the victims. According to reports, their executions quickly became a trending topic on the Chinese social media site Weibo on Wednesday.
