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A woman suspected of involvement in the killing of seven people
denied conspiring with her ex-boyfriend to kill them at her trial at the
Nanchang Intermediate People's Court in Jiangxi province on Monday. Prosecutors charged Lao Rongzhi, who was born in 1974, with five
counts of intentional homicide, as well as kidnapping and robbery. But
she said that she was forced to participate in the crimes by her
ex-boyfriend, Fa Ziying, who was executed in 1999. The prosecutors said Lao and Fa were lovers from 1996 to 1999 and
their conspiracy involved a clear division of labor. They said Lao
sought targets at entertainment venues and committed the crimes of
robbery, kidnapping and intentional homicide in Nanchang, Wenzhou,
Zhejiang province, Changzhou, Jiangsu province, and Hefei, Anhui
province. After committing the crimes, Lao fled Hefei in 1999 and used false
identities during two decades on the run. She was arrested by police in
Xiamen, Fujian province, on Nov 28 last year. Lao used to be a primary schoolteacher in Jiujiang, Jiangxi, and met
Fa at the age of 19. Before they met, Fa had been sentenced to eight
years in prison for robbery in 1981. Fa was caught for the killings in 1999 and executed that year after
being given the death penalty. Lao said she was disgusted with Fa, had
been deceived by him and that he had threatened her and her family. Lao
apologized to the victims' families in court and offered to pay
compensation. So far, only one family has asked for compensation. Liu Jingjie, a
lawyer for the family of Lu Zhongming, who was killed in Hefei in 1998,
said Lu's wife, Zhu Dahong, expects the court to investigate Lao's
criminal liability and order civil compensation. Zhu asked for a compensation of about 1.35 million yuan
($206,000).But Lao told the court she only has about 30,000 yuan in
total. Liu said that because Lao only has a limited capacity to pay
compensation, Zhu's application may not be satisfied. She also said Lao
has not received Zhu's forgiveness. Lao Shengqiao, Lao Rongzhi's brother, apologized to the victims'
families in a written statement submitted to the court and said the Lao
family would try its best to help his sister pay the requested
compensation. He also asked the court to protect her legitimate rights
and give her a fair trial. Zhou Zhaocheng, a lawyer appointed by Lao Rongzhi's family to
represent her, said he accepted the case on Dec 14 last year but had not
received notification from the court that would enable him to attend
the trial to defend her. The court appointed a lawyer for Lao Rongzhi at her request.
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