Missing baby's murder stirs up nationwide anger

"I was shocked when I learned of the death of the baby this morning. I was wondering if the murderer has a child? I thought it was just an accident that the car he stole was carrying a baby, but why did he kill the baby? Why couldn't he leave the kid in a hospital and drive away? You know we care about the child, not the car," a netizen with the screen name "Zouxiaobangdeyequ" wrote on Chinese microblogging platform Sina Weibo.

"I hope the murderer will be punished severely. Meanwhile, the parents should reflect on their mistakes, because they cannot leave a child alone in a car or anywhere. The parents are also responsible for the incident," a netizen named "Aike917" added on Weibo.

Basketball commentator Yang Yi commented on his Weibo, saying that as a father, he felt heartbroken. "I don't know why a person turned into a monster to kill a baby, but society should eradicate this kind of accident and never repeat the tragedy again," Yang said.

If convicted of intentional homicide, Zhou may be sentenced to death under China's penal code. But such punishments can be mitigated if the suspect surrenders himself to police.

However, netizen "Yuwuxiaowu" summed up the feelings of many people by posting, "What the murderer did was not voluntary surrender. He confessed under pressure from the media and society. His crime would have been found out sooner or later."

"A suspect will be sentenced to three to 10 years in jail if found guilty of stealing someone's property. But Zhou's choking a baby was intentional homicide, for which he can be given life imprisonment or the death penalty," said Prof. Qu Xinjiu of the China University of Political Science and Law.

Lighter or mitigated punishment is not applicable if it is found that a surrendering suspect was forced to turn themselves in, Qu confirmed.

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