China court upholds life sentence for hospital attacker

HEFEI - A court in East China's Anhui Province Saturday said it has upheld a first-instance verdict of a life sentence for a man found guilty in a fatal hospital attack.

Cai Chunfeng, 43, was found guilty in a fatal knife attack in which he killed one nurse and injured another four medical staff on November 13, 2012 at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, the Anhui Provincial Higher People's Court said in a statement.

The final verdict came less than five months after the Hefei Intermediate People's Court handed down the first-instance verdict in late December.

Cai should be severely punished for the attack, but he was given a lenient ruling because he confessed his crimes to local police and due to his diminished criminal responsibility at the time of the crime because of a paranoid-type mental disorder, the court said.

Cai was also ordered to pay a total of 70,000 yuan ($11,240) to the victims and their families.

According to the court, Cai was suspicious of the medical staff due to discomfort after receiving an enema and skin test before an operation, the court said.