Husband sentenced to death for murder

An abusive husband has been sentenced to death for murdering his father-in-law and seriously injuring his wife after she filed for a divorce, a city court said Tuesday.

The defendant, surnamed Shen, stood accused of stabbing his father-in-law in the chest after following his wife to her parents' home last July, according to a press release from Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court. The elderly man, who was not identified, died at the scene.

Shen attacked the two victims with a 30-centimeter blade, which left his wife, also unidentified, with a 5-centimeter-long scar on her face and serious injuries to her left arm and right wrist, the court said.

The attack took place on the day after the couple's divorce proceedings began. His wife had filed for divorce because Shen was a drunk who regularly beat her, the court said. One brutal attack left her with a perforated eardrum in her right ear.

After she asked for a divorce, Shen texted her several messages threatening to kill her, the court said.

Shen admitted to his crimes after police arrested him. In court, the defense lawyer argued that Shen deserved a lenient sentence because he only intended to injure the victims.

The court rejected the plea for leniency after determining that Shen intended to kill the victims, based on his prior threats, the strength he put into the attacks and the locations of the victims' wounds.