A kindergarten teacher in China has been sentenced to death for poisoning dozens of children in an act of revenge against a colleague that left one toddler dead .
A court in the central Chinese province of Henan said Wang Yun put sodium nitrite into porridge being prepared for her colleague’ s students , sickening 25 .
The attack took place in March 2019 and left one boy severely ill for months before he died in January this year , according to news reports .
The Jiaozuo City Intermediate People ’s Court on Monday said Wang knew sodium nitrite was harmful but went ahead “ with no regard for the consequences”, leaving many innocent children in hospital.
News reports last year said the children began vomiting and fainting after eating their breakfast .
Kindergarten students in China are aged between three and six .
The death sentence was handed to Wang this week for the offense of using dangerous substances .
Sodium nitrite is used for curing meats but can be toxic when ingested in high amounts .
Wang concealed her reasons for the poisoning after carrying out the crime and her “motives were despicable ”, the court said .
Her “criminal methods and circumstances were exceedingly bad, with especially severe circumstances, and she should be severely punished in accordance with the law ,” the sentencing statement said .
The court added that Wang and the manager of the kindergarten must compensate the children’s families .
It was not the first time Wang used sodium nitrite to poison someone , authorities said . In 2017 she put it in her husband ’s mug , causing him minor injuries .
In March last year, 36 primary school students in southwest China ’s Sichuan province were hospitalized after eating “moldy food ”.
( AFP )
