The father of a paraplegic woman in northeast China's Liaoning Province was given a lenient sentence earlier this week for fulfilling his daughter's wishes and killing her.

"The sentence was handed down with leniency, as the court considered the particulars of the defendant's appeal," said Sun Wenjie, lawyer of Wang Tinghe, after the trial on Tuesday at the Xinglongtai District Court in Panjin City of Liaoning.

Wang was sentenced to three years in prison with three years of probation.

The 51-year-old father admitted that he had strangled her daughter to death. The court heard that the girl, who was in constant pain, had begged her father to aid her suicide and her bitter pleas almost drove the father mad.

His daughter, Wang Qiong, was paralyzed after falling from a high-rise building during her struggle to escape a rape attempt.

The father is the family's only wage-earner, supporting the paralyzed daughter, a son in college and his jobless, ill wife.

The daughter's autopsy report suggested that she was strangled by someone clutching her throat. Her father was accused of murder by the local prosecutor.

Wang Tinghe admitted he killed his daughter saying that he could no long bear to see her in such mental and physical torture.

Source: Xinhua