China sentences woman to death for trafficking 17 children

SINGAPORE: A woman has been sentenced to death in China for abducting and trafficking 17 children in three different provinces between 1993 and 2003.
The retrial of Yu Huaying, 61, has drawn huge public interest across the country after her crimes came to light in 2022 when a 34-year-old victim reported her ordeal of being trafficked by Yu.
Yu Huaying was found guilty of child abduction after the retrial.  
“The circumstances and the consequences of the crimes are extremely serious and she should be severely punished,” the Intermediate People’s Court of Guiyang said, in a verdict shared on its official Weibo page on Friday (Oct 25).
Although Yu confessed to her crimes, it was “not enough to warrant a lighter punishment”, 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 have also been handed out for political corruption and bribery cases. 
Under Chinese law, anyone found guilty of trafficking women or children will face a prison sentence ranging from five to ten years, as well as a fine. 
Because of the “particularly serious consequences” of her crimes, Yu received the harshest punishment “in accordance with the law”, the court said. 
She was also “deprived of her political rights” and all personal property would be confiscated, it added. 
Yu’s own son was her first victim. Chinese state media outlets reported that Yu trafficked her biological son, eventually selling him for 5,000 yuan (US$701). 
She then went on to abduct 17 children from 12 families, with 5 of the families losing two children at once.  
According to court sheets, she was found to have collaborated with two other men between 1993 to 2003 – Wang Jiawen and Gong Xianliang, who has since died.
Her acts had caused “12 families to be separated and broke up familial ties”, the court said, with victims’ families searching for their children for years and even dying due to depression. 
A female victim, identified in Chinese media reports as Ms Yang Niuhua, was one of 17 children who had been abducted and trafficked. Ms Yang, who was born in the southern Guizhou province, revealed that she had been sold by Yu, for 2,500 yuan (US$350) in 1995.  
According to Chinese media reports, the trio found “buyers” through “introduction from others”. 
Abducted children were taken to the city of Handan located up north in Hebei province.
Yu first received the death sentence in 2023. She was sentenced to death again on Friday, after the retrial.
The case has attracted huge public interest in China and social media reactions to the verdict have been largely supportive. 
“The main culprit is behind bars, don’t let the other accomplices get away with the crime too,” read a comment shared on Sina Weibo. 
“Human traffickers are too evil,” said another commentator. “She destroyed someone’s family. Hope she gets the death penalty.”