'Zero tolerance' for child abuse(2)

He was sentenced to death and was executed recently, the court said.

The second case concerned Li Yanqin, who maltreated her stepdaughter and beat her to death in May 2011. Li was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, as the court took into account the fact she had sent her stepdaughter to hospital and confessed her crimes.

The court also gave the example of Deng Jiawen, who incited several minors to commit burglary multiple times and extorted a huge amount of money between August 2010 and February 2011.

Deng was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison and was fined 4,000 yuan (US$646).

Meanwhile, a primary school teacher in central China's Henan Province has been arrested for allegedly molesting multiple female students, local authorities said yesterday.

Yang Shifu, a 55-year-old teacher from Tongbo County, is accused of molesting students since last spring.

He was detained on May 23 after police received tip-offs and conducted inquiries.

The students also received medical checks, but the statement did not detail the results.

Internet reports previously claimed the parents had taken their children to a local hospital for medical checks, which revealed that the hymens of nine girls had been ruptured.

The headmaster of the school has been suspended.

The case is among a series of sexual assaults reported in primary schools across the country, prompting public anger over teachers' misconduct and concern for the safety of students.