13 November 2012 :

a university teacher who stabbed his eight-month-pregnant wife to death last year had his suspended death sentence upgraded to death penalty after his in-laws appealed to a higher court, the Yanzhao Metropolitan Daily reported. Zuo Qihua, 30, a teacher and PhD candidate of Hebei Agricultural University in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, made the headlines after he fatally stabbed his pregnant wife 27 times in a teacher's dormitory in his wife's school on January 1, 2011 in a quarrel over family chores. Zuo told police the next day that his wife had been murdered and turned himself in on January 3. The Zhijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court sentenced Zuo to death with a two-year reprieve because Zou surrendered voluntarily and had no criminal record. But the prosecutors argued that Zuo did not confess to his crime when he reported the murder and turned himself in only on the third day. They said Zuo wore women's clothes to sneak into the dormitory to kill his wife. But the convict denied the charge of premeditated murder in the court. The Hebei Higher People's Court held another hearing on June 6 and made the final verdict after the victim's family demanded for a tougher sentence and funeral expenses. Although Zuo could make no more appeal after the second trial, his execution is unlikely to happen soon because the Supreme People's Court in Beijing has to approve his death sentence.