SINGAPORE: A woman has been sentenced to death in China for kidnapping and trafficking 17 children in three different provinces between 1993 and 2003.

The retrial of Yu Huaying, 61, attracted huge public interest across the country after her crimes came to light in 2022 when a 34-year-old victim reported her attempted trafficked by Yu.

Yu Huaying was found guilty of child abduction after retrial.

“The circumstances and consequences of the crimes are extremely serious and she should be severely punished,” the Guiyang Intermediate People’s Court said in a verdict posted on its official Weibo page on Friday (October 25).

Although Yu confessed to his crimes, “it was not enough to justify a lighter sentence,” the court added.

In China, the death penalty is imposed in the most extreme cases for crimes such as drug trafficking, murder and rape, courts say. Death sentences were also handed down in cases of political corruption and bribery.

Under Chinese law, anyone found guilty of trafficking in women or children faces five to ten years in prison as well as a fine.

Because of the “particularly serious consequences” of his crimes, Yu received the harshest punishment “in accordance with the law,” the court said.

She has also been “deprived of her political rights” and all personal assets will be confiscated, it added.

TRAFFIC HER OWN CHILD

Yu’s son was her first victim. Chinese state media reported that Yu trafficked her biological son, eventually selling him for 5,000 yuan ($701).

He then kidnapped 17 children from 12 families, 5 of the families losing two children at once.