Chinese drug-taking baby killer sentenced to death

A local court in south China's Guangdong province on Thursday sentenced a man to death for killing two infants after taking drugs.

Huang Mingxing, a 36-year-old villager in Minzhong Township in the city of Zhongshan, was convicted of hacking to death two baby girls -- one who was one year old and another who was two months old -- from two families in his village, the intermediate people's court in Zhongshan said in a verdict.

He took crystal meth on the morning of March 5 and later went to the homes of two families with two knives and one scissor, and then killed two infants and slightly injured three, the court found.

He later made a call to local police and gave himself up, it said.

Huang claimed that the drugs caused hallucinations that the two families would kill him and so he decided to strike first.

The court, however, said he was clear-minded when he committed the killing and the severe consequences meant he should not get lenient punishment despite his surrender to police.

Huang was also ordered to pay six plaintiffs a total of 103,918 yuan (17,050 U.S. dollars) in civil compensation.