Girlfriend of China's "serial homicidal thief" stands trial

The girlfriend of a serial homicidal thief stood trial for allegedly abetting the killer in a court in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on Tuesday.

In April 2012, 21-year-old Zhang Guiying met Zhou Kehua, the fugitive gunman who had allegedly shot 10 people dead and was gunned down on Aug. 14, 2012, in Yibin City of southwest China's Sichuan Province. Shortly after meeting Zhou, Zhang moved in with him, according to the prosecutors from the Chongqing Shapingba District People's Procuratorate.

The prosecutors said Zhang knew Zhou had a gun when they lived together. The two arrived in Chongqing on July 1, 2012. Zhou killed one person during a robbery at a bank gate in Shapingba District on Aug. 10 and handed 60,000 yuan (about 8,657 U.S. dollars) in stolen money to Zhang at noon on the same day. Zhang then put the money into two different bank accounts.

During the trial, Zhang said she had been told that Zhou was the "famous serial homicidal thief" in June, but she thought that was a joke. She admitted that she received money from Zhou on Aug. 10, but said she had no idea it had been stolen until she saw the news.

The couple contacted each other via text messages and phone calls from July 1 to Aug. 13, according to evidence offered by the prosecutors.

Zhang collected information on the police search for Zhou and informed Zhou via text messages and phone calls, the prosecutors said.

Zhang also gave Zhou a tube of red lipstick on Aug. 11, which he used to disguise himself when police launched a nationwide manhunt for him.

The procurators said Zhang had committed crimes of abetting a criminal and concealing and hiding illicit money.

Zhang's lawyer said she may be mentally disturbed, as she has epilepsy.

Her lawyer said Zhang needs to take medicine every day, but she failed to take it on Aug. 14, the day she was arrested.

But the procurators provided a psychiatric evaluation report saying Zhang was not affected by mental illness from June 10 to Aug. 14. The procurators also provided an interrogation video taken on Aug. 17, which showed that Zhang was in a normal state of mind.

The judges did not reach a verdict on Tuesday.