According to the Xinhua news agency, the Yueyang Intermediate...

According to the Xinhua news agency, the Yueyang Intermediate People's Court in Hunan province, central China, "recently" sentenced to death Xu Guohua, a farmer convicted of poisoning 161 children at the school where he was employed. Xu was upset after seeing his benefits at the school reduced, and laced food in the school kitchen with rat poison at some point in Autumn 2003, according to Xinhua. The poison wound up in cakes that were prepared for the children on September 23, it said. The children soon showed signs of food poisoning, including vomiting, the agency reported. Xu later showed remorse, saying he only wanted a bit of revenge and had not imagined his action would have such grave consequences, Xinhua said.