Death sentence upheld for Chinese couple who raped and murdered girl

A court in Heilongjiang province yesterday upheld the sentences of a husband and wife for intentional homicide, rape and robbery.

This comes after the wife, who was pregnant at the time, feigned sickness to lure in a 17-year-old girl before helping her husband sexually assault then murder her.

The Higher People's Court of Heilongjiang rejected the couple's appeal and upheld the original punishments handed out by the Jiamusi Intermediate People's Court back in June, Xinhua reports.

The wife, Tan Beibei, was sentenced to life imprisonment, while her husband, Bai Yunjiang, was sentenced to death, reports Shanghaiist.

On July 24, 2013, the victim, identified as Hu, was walking home in Jiamusi when she came across a pregnant Tan, who appeared to have just collapsed on the street.

Tan asked Hu to help her get home, where Bai offered the girl some yogurt spiked with Clonazepam, a sedative. Bai then attempted to rape Hu, but was unsuccessful, as she was conscious enough to fight back.

The couple then killed Hu by smothering her with a blanket before burying her body. Tan said she'd been caught cheating on her husband and, out of guilt, attempted to lure the girl in for her husband's pleasure.

The court also heard that the couple had attempted to carry out similar attacks on two previous occasions.

One involved the attempted rape of their daughter's classmates last June, and the other was the attempted robbery and murder of Bai's former classmate about a month later.

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