The Southern Daily (Weibo) reports (by reporter Guannan Liu and intern Dan Nie) that after a taxi driver collided with a pedestrian and pretended to take the victim to the hospital, he passed by six hospitals without entering any of them. Finally, he abandoned the injured person on the road, resulting in their death. Recently, Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court ruled that driver Yin was guilty of intentional homicide and sentenced him to ten years in prison.
After the accident, Yin claimed he was helping the victim and took them away.
At around midnight on January 23, 2011, Yin was driving his taxi through an intersection on Fuqiang Road in Futian District, Shenzhen, when he hit a pedestrian. Witnessed by bystanders, the driver said he would take the injured person to the hospital for treatment and helped the injured man onto the car and drove away.
According to the taxi's GPS records, within three hours after the victim got into the car, Yin drove past Luhua Hospital, Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Futian People's Hospital, Shenzhen Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Luohu People's Hospital, and Liangtang Hospital but did not take the victim to any of these hospitals for treatment. Finally, Yin abandoned the victim on a remote overpass under a motor vehicle lane in Luohu District.
Even after abandoning the victim, Yin returned to the scene three times to observe the situation but still did not provide help or call for assistance. It wasn't until nine hours after the accident that the victim was discovered by passers-by who then called the police. The victim was subsequently taken to Shenzhen People's Hospital for treatment.
Shenzhen People's Hospital determined that the victim had reached the late stage of brain herniation and surgery was no longer meaningful. On January 25 of last year, this unidentified victim died in the hospital. Shenzhen Forensic Examination and Identification Center determined that the cause of death was severe head trauma due to blunt force trauma.
In considering the case details, the court handed down a lighter sentence.
After the incident, the Shenzhen People's Procuratorate presented public prosecution opinions regarding the charges and sentencing of Yin. The prosecutor argued that Yin's actions constituted indirect intentional homicide. Considering that this case was triggered by a traffic accident, the victim had crossed the road from the median strip and bore some responsibility for the accident. Also, during the time when Yin could have taken the victim to the hospital, the delay might have been partially caused by the victim's own mental state. Furthermore, Yin was apprehended with the assistance of his relatives. Taking all these factors into account, the second-instance court was advised to impose a lighter sentence based on the original verdict.
After the first trial at Luohu District Court in Shenzhen, it was concluded that after causing a traffic accident, Yin intentionally removed the victim from the accident scene and abandoned them, leading to the victim's inability to receive timely medical assistance and ultimately dying as a result. This constituted intentional homicide, and Yin was sentenced to ten years in prison.
Unsatisfied with the verdict, Yin appealed, arguing that his actions constituted negligent homicide. Upon review, Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court found that the original ruling of intentional homicide against Yin was accurate. Regarding sentencing, although the case originated from a traffic accident and Yin did not directly kill the victim, he was apprehended with the assistance of his relatives. Based on these circumstances, the original court imposed the minimum penalty within the statutory sentencing range (which includes the death penalty, life imprisonment, or more than ten years in prison), fully considering specific factors. Therefore, the appeal was rejected, and the original verdict was upheld.