A Chinese nanny was executed yesterday for setting a fire that killed her employer’s wife and three children, a crime that shocked the country and raised questions over official handling of the blaze.
Mo Huanjing (莫煥晶), who had a gambling problem, was found guilty of arson earlier this year following the fire in June last year in Hangzhou.
The 35-year-old woman’s execution was carried out after it was approved by China’s Supreme People’s Court, the Zhejiang Province Prosecutors’ Office said.
“The devil Mo Huanjing is finally executed,” Lin Shengbin (林生斌), the father of the family of five, wrote to his 2.6 million followers on Sina Weibo.
“We have waited too long for this day,” added 37-year-old Lin, who was away when the fire occurred. “This is a measure of comfort for Xiaozhen [Lin’s wife] and the kids’ souls in heaven.”
The case went viral in China due to the tragic circumstances and reported delays in the firefighting response.
Mo was allegedly an obsessive gambler who stole jewelry and borrowed money from Lin’s family as her debts mounted. The Zhejiang court said items and money belonging to the family worth more than 300,000 yuan (US$43,862) remained missing in June.
The court said Mo admitted to starting a fire in the living room of the family’s 18th-floor apartment, planning to put it out quickly to play the hero and use the resulting goodwill to seek more money from her employers.
However, the fire rapidly raged out of control and Mo escaped, leaving behind Lin’s 34-year-old wife, Zhu Xiaozhen (朱小貞), and three children aged six, nine and 11, who all died of asphyxiation.
Lin has previously blamed Greentown, the builder of the high-rise and a major listed property developer, saying that poor safety features in the apartment complex contributed to a delayed firefighting response.
The fire department last year denied accusations that it was slow to respond, instead blaming low water pressure and a lack of required fire safety features in the building.
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