Man accidentally stabs son to death over poor grades

A man in China accidentally stabbed his teenage son to death after he lost his temper over the boy's poor grades.

The man, identified as Yang Junming, has now been sentenced to 12 years in prison by a local court in Mianyang, Sichuan province. The incident took place at the family home last year in January, after Yang confronted his son over his poor performance on a physical education test.

Yang was furious after a teacher from his son's school informed him that his son had only received 18 marks out of 100 on the test, according to a report in The South China Morning Post.

He then went on to confront his son about the same and became angry after his son replied by saying that he "had studied hard enough."

"You always blame me for not being diligent, but I have already studied hard enough," said his son. "I became so furious that I picked up a Japanese samurai sword and stepped forward to stab him," Yang, told the court.

The boy received a 10 cm-long wound on his stomach after his father stabbed him with a 3-foot-long ornamental samurai sword lying on a nearby table.

Yang called the emergency services, saying that he had hurt his son. "I hurt him. He's hurt," he was heard saying in the recorded call.

CCTV footage from the incident showed Yang rushing downstairs with his son in his arms. The boy was immediately rushed to a local hospital but could not be saved.

He underwent surgery at the hospital but died a few hours later as a result of blood loss. A forensic examination revealed that the boy had several old injuries, suggesting that he had been beaten multiple times by his father.

The prosecutors also accused him of threatening his son with the weapon multiple times in the past. However, Yang maintained that he only did so to motivate the child and that he never wanted to harm him.

"I just wanted to scare him. I did the worst thing out of the best motivation," Yang told the police officers after the incident. Yang used to collect samurai blades and bought the sword from an online store.

The court verdict said that Yang Junming "did knowingly cause bodily harm to another, resulting in death." He did not contest the charges nor the sentence.