A COURT has rejected an appeal by a Qingdao teacher and a student who were sentenced to life in prison for deliberately running over a pedestrian in a case of mistaken identity.
Wang Surong, the woman struck down in the attack in 2008, remains in a coma.
An appeal against the convictions in May of Zhang Xuejing, 39, and Shi Chunlong, 20, was recently heard at the Higher People s Court of Guangdong Province and the judge upheld the previous ruling, the Daily Sunshine reported.
In November 2008, Zhang paid Shi, a student in her class, to murder a female resident of Futian District, identified only as Li, whom Zhang claimed was having an affair with her boyfriend.
Four other men Hou Bin, Hu Wenqiang, Chang Taishan and Yang Chuantao were found guilty of involvement and given jail terms ranging from three to 15 years.
The court decided that the six accused should pay Wang 1.4 million yuan (US$210,000) for her medical expenses and family maintenance 6,700 yuan higher than the sum the defendants had been ordered to pay by the Shenzhen Intermediate People s Court in the original trial.
The court heard how the accused arrived in Futian District on Nov. 29, 2008, planning to drug their intended victim and drown her in a river.
Zhang then changed the plan to knocking Li down with a car and transferred 20,000 yuan to Shi s bank account. But they mistakenly knocked down Wang, a cleaner. (Tina Chen)
