During the cooling-off period of divorce, the woman Zhou Mouxia was stabbed to death by her husband Zhao Liuchao with a knife, and the case attracted widespread attention.
On the morning of September 23, the Guangdong Provincial High Court pronounced the second-instance verdict in the case and upheld the death sentence of the previous first instance.
The scene of Zhou Mouxia's murder
The Paper previously reported that according to relatives, Zhou Mouxia was born in 1987 and is a native of Leizhou City, Zhanjiang City, Guangdong. Around 2008, Zhou Mouxia met and married Zhao Liuchao, a native of Pingyu County, Henan, and had a son and a daughter. On July 7, 2023, Zhou Mouxia and Zhao Liuchao submitted a divorce application to the civil affairs department of Pingyu County, Henan, and then entered a 30-day divorce cooling-off period, and Zhou Mouxia returned to Guangzhou to work.
About two weeks later, tragedy struck.
The indictment alleges that after filing for divorce, Zhao Liuchao repeatedly forced the victim to meet with him by threatening him by phone and threatened to kill his family.
Zhou Mouxia's relatives said that on July 20, 2023, Zhao Liuchao asked Zhou Mouxia to meet again, "with a very tough attitude". Worried that Zhao Liuchao would be violent, Zhou Mouxia called the police, but Zhao Liuchao was reluctant to go to the police station. At that time, Zhao Liuchao insisted on meeting, and also said "apologize to each other, admit your mistakes, and don't divorce." Forced by Zhao Liuchao's threat, Zhou Mouxia agreed to meet.
Regarding the incident, the indictment alleges that on the evening of July 20, 2023, in order to prevent being injured by Zhao Liuchao, Zhou Mouxia went to the gate of an industrial park on Cuiyuan Road, Liwan District, Guangzhou City, with her relatives and friends to wait for Zhao Liuchao. At about 11 o'clock that night, Zhao Liuchao drove an electric car to the place, and after getting out of the car, he walked straight to Zhou Mouxia, and was stopped by Zhou Mouxia's relatives and friends, Zhao Liuchao immediately held a sharp knife with him and stabbed Zhou Mouxia's relatives and friends in the vital parts of the upper body, causing many injuries. Seeing this, Zhou Mouxia immediately fled, Zhao Liuchao chased Zhou Mouxia with a knife, during which Zhou Mouxia fell to the ground, and Zhao Liuchao stabbed his upper body and left chest and other vital parts with a knife multiple times, and was stopped before he could not continue to inflict harm. After that, Zhao Liuchao was pressed to the ground, during which he still resisted fiercely, wielding a knife and stabbing wantonly, intending to continue the murder. Zhou Mouxia died on the spot after being stabbed.
According to the official WeChat public account of the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court on April 25, 2024, on April 25, the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court publicly announced the first-instance verdict of the defendant Zhao Liuchao's intentional homicide case in accordance with the law, and sentenced Zhao Liuchao to death for intentional homicide and deprived him of political rights for life.
The court held that the defendant Zhao Liuchao deliberately and unlawfully deprived others of their lives, causing the death of one person, the minor injuries of one person, and the slight injuries of three others, and that his conduct constituted the crime of intentional homicide. Zhao Liuchao's subjective malice was great, the criminal methods were cruel, and the consequences were serious, and he should be severely punished, and the court made the above judgment in accordance with law.
Zhao Liuchao was dissatisfied with the first-instance verdict and appealed.
On the morning of August 2 this year, the second-instance trial of the case was held at the Guangdong Provincial High Court, but the court did not announce the verdict in court. During the trial, Zhao Liuchao and his defender claimed that although Zhao Liuchao brought a knife at the time of the crime, he did not intentionally kill people, and he had no intention of killing, and asked the court to give a lighter sentence. In this regard, the prosecutor believes that the facts of Zhao Liuchao's intentional homicide are clear, the evidence is credible and sufficient, and the court of first instance has already ascertained and determined it through trial.
Regarding Zhao Liuchao's above-mentioned defense, Zhou Mouxia's family said that the victim's family could not accept it, believing that Zhao Liuchao was trying to save his life.
Zhou Mouxia's family revealed that in July this year, Zhao Liuchao's defense lawyer contacted the lawyer representing the victim's family and offered to pay 80,000 yuan in compensation to sign a settlement agreement, but they refused. The attitude of the victim's family is very clear, demanding that Zhao Liuchao be sentenced to death, and will not forgive Zhao Liuchao.
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