Would-be killer is imprisoned

By Angela Xu  |   2008-12-12  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A FARMER who planned to blow himself and his girlfriend up with a homemade bomb was sentenced to one year in prison yesterday.

Tan Guisi, 32, from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, got a light sentence because he abandoned the idea and threw the explosives away, said the Xuhui District People's Court.

Tan told the court he met his girlfriend, Xie Qiaofeng, in Guangxi through an introduction by a matchmaker early this year. The couple lived together after Tan gave a 5,000 yuan (US$730) betrothal gift to Xie's mother.

But Xie disappeared half a year later. Tan found Xie had another "husband" in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province and came to Shanghai in August.

"I was extremely angry after I learned the truth," Tan told the court. "Five thousand yuan is a big sum of money for me. But she cheated both my money and my love."

On August 23 he bought explosives and a knife. The next day, the day of the Olympics' closing ceremony, Tan and Xie agreed to meet at Shanghai South Railway Station.

Xie refused to leave the station to meet Tan, so Tan threw the bag containing the explosives and the knife onto a ledge near the station entrance because he was scared they would be detected by security guards at the station, prosecutors said.

Tan said in the hearing that he had already abandoned the idea of blowing himself up, because his elderly mother and disabled brother needed care. He said he disabled the explosives in the taxi on the way to the station.

"I just wanted to tell Xie she could have nothing to do with me no matter what happened in the future," Tan said.

The bag was found by a rubbish collector. She saw the knife and yellow powder and reported it to the police. A man waiting for a bus nearby told police he had seen Tan at the spot where the bag was found and Tan was caught.

Police found 555 grams of explosive powder, two fuses and two detonators.