Nanny Executed After She Started a Fire That Killed a Mother and Three Children

A Chinese nanny who killed a mother and her three children was executed on Friday. Mo Huanjing was sentenced to death in February after she started an apartment fire that killed Zhu Xiaozhen and her three kids, who were between 6 and 11 years old.

"Mo's motive was abhorrent, highly vicious and dangerous to others. The consequences of the crime were severe and detrimental to public safety. The evidence was factual and sufficient, and the sentencing was appropriate," the Supreme People's Court said after reviewing the case and approving the execution, The Straits Times reported.

The family hired Mo in 2016. A year later, she used a lighter to ignite the blaze in the family's living room. Addicted to gambling and deep in debt, Mo had planned on "saving" the family by putting the fire out, hoping her actions would persuade them to lend her money.

The family had already lent the troubled woman more than $16,000 between March and June of 2017, yet she stole more than $28,000 worth of their possessions.

"The devil Mo Huanjing is finally executed. Hearing the news, my tears would not stop flowing. I called my parents. My mother listened and cried and said that everyone has waited too long for this day," Lin Shengbin, the children's father, wrote on Weibo, a popular Chinese social media platform, according to the BBC.

Lin, who was away on business at the time of the fire, posted a picture of his wife and children's graves to the site, writing, "the road ahead will be even harder."

China leads the world in executions, sentencing more people to death "than the rest of the world combined," according to a report from human rights group Amnesty International.

Ten people were sentenced to death in front of thousands of residents in the southeastern part of the country last year before being taken away and executed. Chinese courts have a 99.9 percent conviction rate.

"By carrying out yet another mass execution, the second in the span of five months, the Chinese authorities have once again displayed a blatant disregard for human life and dignity," William Nee, a China researcher at Amnesty International, tweeted following the sentencing.

The number of executions China carries out is not officially known. According to estimates reported by the Dui Hua Foundation, a U.S.-based human rights watchdog group, the country executed 2,000 people in 2016.