On April 25, 2024, the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court publicly pronounced the first-instance verdict in the intentional homicide case of the defendant Zhao Liuchao in accordance with the law, and sentenced Zhao Liuchao to death for intentional homicide and deprived him of political rights for life.
After trial, the court found that the defendant Zhao Liuchao and the victim Zhou Mouxia registered their marriage in 2011, and on July 7, 2023, due to emotional discord, they applied to the Marriage Registration Office of the Civil Affairs Bureau of Pingyu County, Henan Province for divorce by agreement. On the evening of July 30, 2023, Zhou Mouxia, accompanied by relatives and friends Zhou and other six people, agreed with Zhao Liuchao to meet at the gate of an industrial park in Guangzhou. After Zhao Liuchao arrived, he walked straight to Zhou Mouxia, and was stopped by Zhou and others, Zhao Liuchao stabbed Zhou, Zhou Mouxia and others with a sharp knife he carried, causing Zhou Mouxia to die and Zhou Mouxia and four others to be injured.
The court held that the defendant Zhao Liuchao deliberately and unlawfully deprived others of their lives, causing the death of one person, the minor injuries of one person, and the slight injuries of three others, and that his conduct constituted the crime of intentional homicide. Zhao Liuchao's subjective malice was great, the criminal methods were cruel, and the consequences were serious, and he should be severely punished, and the court made the above judgment in accordance with law.
More than 10 people, including some of the victims, their relatives, and the defendant's relatives, attended the announcement of the verdict.
Source: Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court
Previously reported:
The "divorce cooling-off period murder case" outside the surveillance video: a domestic violence that lasted for more than ten years
Ms. Zhou's sister Xiao Zhou told the Red Star News reporter that Zhao's domestic violence against Ms. Zhou has lasted for a long time, and Ms. Zhou has repeatedly proposed the idea of divorce, but it has not been successful. It wasn't until July 2023 that Zhao finally agreed to sign the divorce agreement.
Xiao Zhou originally thought that this would be the beginning of his sister's new life, but his sister, Ms. Zhou, fell on the 13th day of the divorce cooling-off period.
The family of the assailant said that his behavior was not domestic violence, and "it didn't tickle and hurt"
Ms. Zhou's domestic violence is no secret to the Zhou family, the Zhao family, and even some friends.
According to Xiao Zhou's recollection, in 2010, when her sister took Zhao home for the first time, she once told her family that Zhao would do something to her. At that time, the family thought it was an ordinary conflict between husband and wife, and did not pay enough attention to it, which made her regret it very much, "The family didn't know that my sister was abused like this." If we knew, we wouldn't just listen to my sister and not interfere. ”
Many of the details of Ms. Zhou's abuse were learned by Xiao Zhou from her sister's best friend, Ms. Chen (pseudonym). In 2019, Ms. Zhou and Ms. Chen cooperated to open a store for half a year. During that period, Ms. Chen found that the other party often had scars on his body, and the corners of his mouth and knees were swollen from time to time
In Ms. Chen's recollection, in just half a year, her girlfriend had to be beaten every month, sometimes two or three times a month, and Ms. Zhou once told her about the situation when she encountered domestic violence. As for the causes of domestic violence, they all come from trivial matters, such as cooking late, giving money to the mother's family, or not wanting to have sex with you...... After the murder, Ms. Zhou's family called Ms. Chen, and Ms. Chen's first reaction was, "Was it beaten by Zhao again?"
Xiao Zhou told the Red Star News reporter that she only knew that her sister had suffered domestic violence, but she never thought it would be so bad. In her impression, when she divorced several times before, Zhao admitted his mistakes, apologized, and promised not to do it again.
In July 2023, Zhao agreed to sign the divorce agreement. After entering the cooling-off period for divorce, Ms. Zhou once received a call from Zhao's sister, who advised her not to divorce. Xiao Zhou was next to her at that time, and she asked the other party if she knew about Zhao's violence against Ms. Zhou, and the other party said that Zhao's behavior was not domestic violence, "and it didn't tickle and hurt."
On March 20, 2024, at the pre-trial conference before the trial of the case, Zhao's family mentioned this again, in addition to saying that Zhao's behavior was not domestic violence, they also said that they treated Ms. Zhou "like a baby".
During the divorce cooling-off period, she continued to be harassed, and she fell under her husband's sharp knife
In Xiao Zhou's memories, from the first time she brought Zhao home in 2010 to her death under the other party's knife in 2023, her sister Ms. Zhou had the idea of escaping from this marriage many times.
After the tragedy, Xiao Zhou found a divorce agreement from his sister Ms. Zhou's bag, which stipulated that the two children would be raised by the man and the house would be owned by the eldest son; the joint deposit of 400,000 yuan would be kept by the man temporarily, and the man would pay the woman 200,000 yuan on the day he received the divorce certificate; if the man beat or abused the woman before receiving the divorce certificate, he should compensate the woman for mental losses of 100,000 yuan.
Ms. Zhou's bank card statement shows that the day before she submitted the divorce application, she transferred 300,000 yuan to Zhao's mother's bank card.
Xiao Zhou said that her sister Ms. Zhou tried to divorce several times in the past, but she was unsuccessful under Zhao's begging for mercy or threatening to stop her. According to her understanding, there are many reasons why her sister wants to divorce, in addition to domestic violence, Zhao also cheated in marriage. In 2016, after a cheating partner became pregnant, Zhao also asked Ms. Zhou to come forward to give money to "solve the problem".
During the trial of the case, the Zhou family asked the prosecution to collect relevant evidence on Zhao's marital mistakes. The prosecution told them that "the case itself is clear, and the judge will investigate if needed." ”
Xiao Zhou recalled that the fuse of this divorce was that his sister proposed to take the two children from Zhao's hometown to Guangzhou for the summer vacation, but Zhao resolutely objected. After the quarrel, the two went to the civil affairs department to go through the divorce procedures, signed the divorce agreement, and were told that they needed to go through a 30-day cooling-off period for divorce.
Until the incident, Zhao continued to harass and pestered Ms. Zhou, and threatened her family's safety and demanded that she meet. Worried about affecting the lives of her family, Ms. Zhou agreed to the other party's request.
The two parties agreed to meet on the street, and Ms. Zhou then fell under Zhao's sharp knife......
Before the murder, the police had verbally warned the murderer on the phone
Xiao Zhou can't forget everything that happened on July 20, 2023.
That afternoon, Ms. Zhou and her were harassed again by Zhao, who demanded that Ms. Zhou "come out and talk" and threatened to do something to Ms. Zhou's brother if they refused to meet. In the chat record shown by Xiao Zhou, Zhao threatened that he had already explained what happened after his death: "Come on, call the police and arrest me, I want to kill someone." ”
For safety reasons, Xiao Zhou dialed the 110 police number, and went to the Longdong Police Station in Tianhe District, Guangzhou City at around 18 o'clock that day, where he stayed for nearly one hour.
During this period, Zhao called Ms. Zhou, and the police took the phone to give Zhao a verbal warning and asked him to come to the police station to communicate with Ms. Zhou. Zhao said that he would "not come to the police station", and the police asked Ms. Zhou to call the police immediately after Zhao came to harass them or did something that endangered their personal safety.
After leaving the police station, Zhao's harassment continued. For the safety of her family, Ms. Zhou decided to meet as Zhao said. Ms. Zhou's brother, younger brother, cousin and other relatives were also working nearby, and Xiao Zhou told them that Ms. Zhou wanted to meet with Zhao, and several people offered to go together.
A few hours later, Zhao appeared at the meeting place on an electric bicycle, took out a knife and stabbed several of Ms. Zhou's relatives first. Subsequently, Zhao chased Ms. Zhou with a knife and stabbed her in the chest several times. According to the forensic results issued by the Liwan District Branch of the Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, the cause of Ms. Zhou's death was hemorrhagic shock caused by a ruptured heart caused by the action of a sharp object.
In the process of stopping Zhao, Ms. Zhou's brother was stabbed in the right chest and left forearm, and the degree of injury was second-degree minor injury. Xiao Zhou told the Red Star News reporter that all the relatives of the Zhou family have reached an agreement not to accept Zhao's apology and do not want him to pay any form of financial compensation.
After being taken into the detention center, Zhao sent a five-page letter, the last three pages of which were self-criticism and pleas, in which the "two children" were mentioned many times: "Can you bear to see them lose their parents as a teenager?"
At the trial, he also asked the court for a lenient sentence on the grounds of his two children.