Drink Driver Handed Death Penalty In China

[doboman]

A DRUNK driver who killed four people as he fled the scene of a crash has been sentenced to death, in China's first capital punishment of a traffic offence.
Sun Weiming was handed the death penalty by an intermediate court in southwest China's Chengdu city yesterday for endangering public safety, State newspaper the Huaxi Metropolitan Daily reported today.

The 30-year-old was convicted of an accident in crowded downtown Chengdu in December last year that resulted in his Buick sedan smashing into four other cars as he tried to speed away from the scene.

Besides being drunk, Sun was also driving without a licence.

``Sun Weiming will go down as the first traffic troublemaker in China to be sentenced to death for endangering public safety,'' the paper said.

After the sentencing, Sun shouted out that he was sorry for the crime and vowed to appeal.

``I hope to use the time that I have left to compensate the families of the victims, I am still young, I am only 30 years old, I can earn money to compensate,'' the paper quoted Sun as shouting.

The Chinese public has increasingly called for more severe punishment for those caught drinking and driving following a string of fatalities in recent years.

Police had said Sun's car was travelling at more than double the speed limit, the China Daily reports.

Chengdu - the capital of Sichuan Province - will become Perth's 10th international sister city after a Perth Council backflip this month on establishing new sister-city relationships.

Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi defended the decision to add Chengdu to the list, saying it was a key centre of economic power in the country.

"Chengdu City is one of the wealthiest cities in China and the Sichuan province is a leading force in many industries including electronics, equipment building, energy, petrochemicals, steel, food processing, and modem TCM," Ms Scaffidi said.

Is this going overboard? Or would you like to see such penalties in Australia. Discuss.

[Mao]

Considering he was drunk, without a license, killed 4 people and tried to flee the scene.... He's not exactly being sentenced to death purely because of drunk driving, it's more like a hit-run/rampage.

There has been a recent accident of similar scale (possibly in the same city, can't remember) that had killed 9 people, most of whom were pedestrians. The driver hit the first couple, then sped up to hit another, then another, over something around the distance of 400 meters without the intention of stopping that sent about 12/13 people flying, only to be finally stopped by a brave taxi driver that acted as a roadblock. This driver will probably end up with the same fate.

[excal]

While I'm fundamentally against the death penalty, I think it is time for more severe penalties for reckless driving causing death in Australia. I mean, people are getting let off the hook (i.e., suspended sentences or very short custodial sentences) for causing death at the wheel.

Perhaps nina can shed some light on this, but why is it not in the same 'class' as manslaughter?

[lukeperry91]

I don't know about in Australia but in the states killing behind the wheel counts as reckless endangerment and some other things, and in more severe cases manslaughter (assault with a deadly weapon: auto).