American English language teacher at Ningbo University of Technology, China is sentenced to death for fatal knife attack on his 23-year-old student girlfriend when she tried to end their relationship

The victim, Chen Shijun, was a 23-year-old junior at the school of engineering

Shadeed Abdulmateen, originally from Los Angeles, was sentenced to death on Thursday for international homicide in China

The court found Abdulmateen guilty of ‘premeditated revenge killing’

The defendant was charged with the brutal rape and murder of Chen, an engineering junior on June 14, 2021 

Abdulmateen, a teacher at Ningbo University of Technology, met Chen, in 2019, but he’d lied about being divorced

After ‘repeatedly’ trying to break up with him in May 2021, the pair agreed to meet at a bus stop in Ningbo around 8pm 

Roughly two hours later, he stabbed Chen in her neck and face and she was pronounced dead at the scene 

Abdulmateen reportedly, admitted to the crime during police interrogation and told investigators the location of the murder weapon, making the trial a formality 

An American teacher has been sentenced to death in China for fatally stabbing his girlfriend – a 23-year-old student – when she tried to break off their relationship.
Shadeed Abdulmateen, originally of Los Angeles, was sentenced to death on Thursday after a trial in the Intermediate People’s Court of Ningbo, a city in China’s eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, the Xinhua News Agency reported. He was convicted of international homicide. 
Shadeed Abdulmateen, a University of Phoenix graduate and English teacher at the Ningbo Institute of Engineering had been charged with the brutal rape and murder of Chen Shijun, a 23-year-old junior in the school of engineering on June 14, 2021.

Chen’s body was discovered the following day about half a mile from the Ningbo Institute.
Describing the harrowing experience of identifying their daughter’s body at the local police station, “The police took us to see the [body]. At that time, I almost fainted. My daughter had dozens of [knife] wounds on her face, and a [knife] wound at the main artery of her neck was very deep,” one of the parents stated.

The court documents stated that Abdulmateen, an English teacher at Ningbo University of Technology, met Chen, in 2019 after lying about being divorced, according to Xinhua, and the pair entered into a romantic relationship. 
When she tried to ‘repeatedly’ break up in May 2021, he reportedly verbally intimidated her, a court statement said.
Abdulmateen arranged to meet her at a bus stop around 8pm on June 14, 2021, in Ningbo. Almost two hours later, he stabbed her to death in the neck and face with a folding knife he had brought with the intention of killing her, Xinhua said. 
Chen reportedly suffered massive hemorrhaging and was pronounced dead at the scene. 

The court found Abdulmateen guilty of ‘premeditated revenge killing.’
‘[The] stabbing and cutting Chen’s face and neck several times, resulting in Chen’s death, was motivated by vile motives, resolute intent and cruel means, and the circumstances of the crime were particularly bad and the consequences particularly serious, and should be punished according to law,’ the court said, according to CNN.

While in custody Abdulmateen reportedly confessed to the murder ‘after a standard session of “interrogation”’. He is quoted as stating that he snapped because of an “emotional dispute”, adding that they were having “relationship issues”.
Subsequently the suspect provided investigators with the generation location along the Yongjiang River where they could find evidence pertaining to the crime, including the murder weapon.

The murder reportedly caused outraged among locals, who said the police were slow to respond to the crime because Abdulmateen was a foreigner, according to the South China Morning Post. 
The former Editor-in-Chief of the Global Times, Hu Xijin, said foreigners’ identity shouldn’t be used as a ‘protective umbrella for them to escape punishment,’ the South China Morning Post reported. 
The trial itself was seen as a formality since Abdulmateen allegedly, had already admitted to the murder. The guilty verdict means that American teacher faces execution by firing squad having been found guilty in the People’s Court of Justice.

Chinese law states that foreigners will be convicted of their crimes under the country’s law and faces the same punishments as their Chinese counterparts, except those with diplomatic privileges or exemptions. It was said Abdulmateen had been provided with a defense, translation services, and consular visits at his trial. 
The trial was attended by more than 20 people, including government officials and members of the public.