2010-04-08 16:23

NANPING, Fujian - Families of the eight students killed in a school stabbing last month in east China's Fujian province have each received more than 260,000 yuan ($38,100) from the government to help them recover, local authorities said Thursday.

Each family also received 12,000 yuan from education authorities, the women's association, the youth league and Nanping Experimental Elementary School where the students studied, said a spokesman with the Nanping city government.

Zheng Minsheng, 41, a former community doctor who stabbed the eight children to death and injured five others on March 23 was sentenced to death Thursday by the Intermediate People's Court of Nanping city.

He admitted "intentionally killing" the children at the gate of the school when they were going to morning class.

Zheng told the court he had been rejected by a woman he wanted to marry and suffered unfair treatment from the woman's wealthy family, which prompted him to carry out the attack.

"I'm willing to shoulder responsibility for what I've done," he said.

The injured children were being treated at the Nanping No.1 Hospital. ?Four of them had been moved out of intensive care, while the worst injured, Zhang Xuexin, remained there for observation, doctors said.