Didi driver in China sentenced to death for rape, murder of passenger

A driver of China's largest taxi-hailing service was sentenced to death by a court in eastern China for raping and murdering a 19-year-old female passenger in August last year.

Zhong Yuan, 27, was also deprived of his political rights for life for intentional homicide, robbery and rape, according to the intermediate people's court in the eastern coastal city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province.

In August last year, a woman went missing after hailing a car from Didi Chuxing, the country's largest ride-hailing platform, in Wenzhou. The driver Zhong was caught by police the next morning, and confessed to rape and murder.

According to the court, the murder was premeditated.

Zhong had debts on an online gambling website and prepared the knife and tape in advance, intending to rob a female passenger.

Zhong's plan failed on August 23 after a female passenger escaped from the car, but he managed to pick up another female passenger the next day and committed the crime, according to the court.

The crime triggered fierce public and government criticism of Didi - whose backers include Uber Technologies Inc, Apple Inc and Japan's SoftBank Group Corp - and led to a safety overhaul at the company.

Didi Chuxing suspended its Hitch services nationwide after the incident.