"When I was taken away by the police on suspicion of rape and murder 21 years ago, my brother had only been married for more than two years, and my sister-in-law was more than two months pregnant. After my brother was arrested, my sister-in-law filed for divorce and the fetus was killed. Since he was released from prison, my brother has been alone. Speaking of his brother's ups and downs, Mr. Li is still uneasy.
A 34-year-old man was arrested from his home and detained on suspicion of rape and murder, and the deceased was a girl from the same village
The man involved in the case is named Li Daqing, 55 years old this year, and lives in the countryside of Luoping Town, Wuning County, Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province.
Li Daqing, who was released and returned home, courtesy of the interviewee
According to his younger brother, Mr. Li, there is a Zhelin River near his home, which flows through the village's 4 villager groups from the 7th to the 10th, and flows into the local Zhelin Lake through the downstream No. 7 villager group.
Mr. Li recalled to a reporter from Huashang Daily Gale News that on May 21, 2003, several police officers suddenly came to his family and arrested Li Daqing, "My brother had only been married for more than two years that year, and my sister-in-law was more than two months pregnant. ”
Subsequently, Li Daqing's family received a criminal detention notice saying that he was suspected of intentional homicide. The victim's name was Lei Lei (pseudonym), a native of the same village, and her home was about 1 kilometre away.
A 16-year-old girl took her Walkman out to hunt pigweed and did not return overnight, and after calling the police, she found that she had been killed by the ditch
Lei Lei's father, who has been working in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province for many years, told a reporter from Huashang Daily Gale News that his daughter had only studied in elementary school for a period of time, and she was only 16 years old when the incident occurred.
He said that at around 8 a.m. on May 19, 2003, his daughter went out alone to hunt pigweed and did not return home until the next morning.
The scene of the crime that year Photo provided by the interviewee
After the incident, they immediately reported the case to the Luoping Police Station in Wuning County.
After receiving the police, the police attached great importance to it and immediately sent the police to the scene, the police saw Lei Lei with fluffy hair, untidy clothes, head facing the mountain, feet down the mountain, lying on her back in the shallow ditch, the body was covered with withered thatch, her head was covered with a purple-red coat, there was a broken bamboo basket and a walkman near her body, and she had a head injury.
After a forensic examination, the Wuning County Public Security Bureau believed that Lei Lei was raped by others, strangled and suffocated to death, and that her head trauma should have been caused by a blow with a relatively sharp object.
After the incident, the Wuning County Public Security Bureau sent Lei Lei's shorts and other inspection materials to the Jiangxi Provincial Public Security Department for further identification. According to the physical evidence appraisal issued by the Jiangxi Provincial Public Security Department, no sperm was detected on the shorts and swabbs of the deceased Lei Lei.
The trial retracted his confession and the death sentence was reversed in the first trial, and after appeal, the final trial was commuted to a suspended death sentence, and he was released after serving more than 18 years in prison
On 24 July 2003, the Jiujiang City Procuratorate charged Li Daqing with intentional homicide and rape and filed a public prosecution with the Jiujiang City Intermediate People's Court.
The Jiujiang City Procuratorate alleged that the defendant Li Daqing used violent means to achieve the goal of rape and caused the victim's death, and that his actions constituted the crimes of intentional homicide and rape.
At the trial, Li Daqing, as the defendant, defended himself by saying that the facts charged him in the indictment with the crimes of intentional homicide and rape were not true.
Li Daqing's defender submitted that during the investigation stage of the case, the investigators were suspected of extorting confessions by torture, and that defendant Li Daqing's intellectual condition did not match the language of his confession at the public security organs, and that he applied for a judicial evaluation of his criminal capacity.
The Jiujiang City Intermediate People's Court investigated and ascertained that at around 10 a.m. on the day of the incident, the defendant Li Daqing carried electric fish tools to the seventh group of Hushan Port in a village in Luoping Town, Wuning County. After that, Li Daqing dragged her to a ditch in Hushan, more than 10 meters away from Ganggou, and then put her on clothes. In order to kill people, he also picked up a stone on a nearby ridge and slammed her head and face several times. Immediately afterwards, she took the bamboo basket she used to beat pigweed to the corpse, covered her head with the fuchsia gown she was wearing, covered the corpse with withered thatch, and threw the bamboo basket and walkman on the hill not far above the corpse, and then fled the scene. The court held that Li Daqing's actions constituted the crimes of rape and intentional homicide. The facts of the crime alleged by the prosecution are clear, the evidence is credible and sufficient, and the charges are confirmed. Defendant Li Daqing's methods of committing the crime were cruel, the circumstances were heinous, and the consequences were particularly serious, and he should be severely punished in accordance with law.
At the same time, the court said that Li Daqing's denial of the facts of his crime was inconsistent with his original confession, relevant witness testimony, documentary evidence, and physical evidence, so it did not support his justification. His defender put forward the investigators' defense that Li Daqing was suspected of extorting a confession by torture, but after investigation there was no evidence to substantiate it, and submitted that Li Daqing's intellectual condition did not match the language of his confession in the public security, and upon investigation, the content of Li Daqing's confession during the investigation stage was true and consistent with the audio and video discs on which the investigators interrogated him, so his defense reasons were not accepted. The defender also submitted an application for a psychiatric medical evaluation of Li Daqing, and upon investigation, it was found that Li Daqing had no history of mental illness, had a clear sense of committing the crime, had no mental abnormalities, and had a strong sense of self-protection, so his application was not accepted.
On September 5 of the same year, the Jiujiang City Intermediate People's Court pronounced a verdict in the first instance, stating that Li Daqing had committed intentional homicide and was sentenced to death; Guilty of rape and sentenced to five years' imprisonment. It was decided to carry out the death penalty.
Li Daqing was not satisfied and appealed to the Jiangxi Provincial High Court. On November 25 of the same year, the court issued a final verdict stating that Li Daqing was guilty of intentional homicide and rape, but in view of the specific circumstances of the case, sentenced him to death with a two-year reprieve.
After the verdict was pronounced in the second trial, Li Daqing was sent to Yuzhang Prison in Jiangxi Province to serve his sentence.
On January 29, 2022, a release certificate from the prison showed that Li Daqing had his sentence commuted six times during his sentence, with a reduction of four years and four months, and the actual sentence was 18 years, two months and five days, and he was now released after completing his sentence.
Li Daqing's younger brother, Mr. Li, told reporters that after Li Daqing was arrested, his pregnant wife beat the child and filed for divorce, "My brother returned to his hometown to be alone after serving more than 18 years in prison, and in 2023, the village gave him a subsistence allowance." ”
The complaint was rejected after more than 10 years, and his family said that he could not speak until he was 11 years old, and he was rated as a third-level intellectual disability
Mr. Li told reporters that during his brother's imprisonment, "every time I went to visit the prison, he said that he had not committed a crime and asked me to appeal on his behalf." ”
Mr. Li said that they later filed a complaint with the Jiangxi Provincial High Court, claiming that Li Daqing's confession of guilt was made only after he had been tortured to extract a confession and induce a confession, that his confession during the investigation stage was not a true expression of his intentions, that the facts of Li Daqing's crime of intentional homicide and rape were unclear and that the evidence was insufficient, and that the suspicion of a third party committing the crime could not be ruled out.
At the same time, Mr. Li also filed a complaint with the Jiangxi Provincial Procuratorate.
On December 8, 2021, the Jiangxi Provincial High People's Court issued a Notice of Rejection of the Appeal, stating that after review, the court found that the investigators' interrogation of Li Daqing in accordance with the law was confirmed by simultaneous audio and video recordings, and there was no evidence in the case to prove that Li Daqing made a guilty confession after being tortured to extract or induce a confession. Li Daqing has repeatedly confessed that he strangled the victim unconscious, and after committing violence to the victim, he struck her head and face with stones, then covered her head with a gown, covered the body with withered thatch, and fled the scene. Li Daqing's confession of the time of the crime, the place where the crime was committed, the means of committing the crime, the cause of the victim's death and external injuries, the direction in which the body was placed and the cover on the body, the victim's clothing, and other relevant relics, corroborated each other with witness testimony, on-site investigation records and photographs, extraction records, autopsy appraisal opinions, identification records, identification records, video CDs, and other evidence, and his on-site identification records and identification records also confirmed that he led the way to the scene to identify the locations of killing the victim, burying the victim, and discarding the victim's belongings. The bamboo basket carried by the victim and the clothes covering the deceased's head were identified in accordance with the law.
At the same time, it is said that this evidence can form a complete chain of evidence, which is sufficient to eliminate reasonable doubt. The court of second instance sentenced Li Daqing to a criminal penalty based on the facts of the crime, the nature and circumstances of the crime, and the degree of harm to society, which was in accordance with the law, "The grounds for your appeal are not sustained, and the appeal does not meet the requirements for a retrial in the relevant provisions, so it is rejected." ”
Despite this, Mr. Li said, they continue to wait for the outcome of the appeal from the Jiangxi Provincial Procuratorate.
He told reporters that his brother, who was 3 years older than him, had a congenital intellectual disability since he was a child, and only spoke when he was 11 years old.
An elderly local villager confirmed to reporters that he and Li Daqing's family are not far from each other, and Li Daqing has had intellectual disabilities since he was a child.
The reporter saw on a disability certificate provided by Mr. Li that in April 2023, Li Daqing was rated as a third-level intellectual disability.
The provincial procuratorate said that the court had erred in its determination of the facts, and did not rule out the possibility of others committing the crime, and recommended a retrial
Recently, the Li Daqing brothers finally waited for the results of the appeal from the Jiangxi Provincial Procuratorate.
The procuratorate said that they had reviewed and ascertained the relevant facts of the case, and held that the criminal verdict of the Jiangxi Provincial High Court submitted by the brothers found that Li Daqing had committed intentional homicide and rape with unclear facts and insufficient evidence. First, the authenticity of the confession of guilt, the on-site identification record, and the identification record on which the original judgment was based is doubtful, and the possibility of inducement cannot be ruled out. Second, there is no other evidence linking Li Daqing to the case. Third, the possibility of others committing crimes cannot be ruled out.
At the same time, the procuratorate believes that the evidence in the Jiangxi Provincial High Court's criminal verdict finding that Li Daqing committed intentional homicide and rape is not credible and sufficient, and that the facts found are indeed erroneous, and reasonable doubt cannot be eliminated.
The procuratorate decided to submit a procuratorial recommendation for retrial to the Jiangxi Provincial High People's Court in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law and the relevant provisions of the Organic Law of the People's Procuratorate.
The Jiangxi Provincial High Court said that the case is currently under further investigation and processing.
Huashang Daily Gale News reporter Huang Ping Editor Li Zhi
(If you have any news, please call the news hotline of Huashang Daily at 029-8888 0000)