Chinese convict who killed two-year-old girl by throwing her to the floor in row over parking space is sentenced to death A Chinese ex-convict was today sentenced to death for killing a toddler by hurling her to the ground during an argument about a parking space. Han Lei, 39, had confronted the two-year-old child's mother in a car park in Beijing on July 23, claiming that her shopping trolley was in his way. During the altercation, he beat the woman to the ground, snatched the child from her buggy and raised her above his head before throwing her on the floor. Sentenced to death: Han Lei is handcuffed after a Beijing court convicted him of the murder of a two-year-old girl She was severely injured and died in hospital several days after the incident. Han fled the scene but police caught him the following day. He told the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court that he believed he was only throwing a trolley to the floor. At that time I didn't know it was a baby carriage. I thought because the woman had just been shopping that it was a shopping cart,' he said. The court rejected his defence and convicted him of murder before sentencing him to death. Chinese media had reported that Han, who had been released from prison less than a year before, was so wracked by guilt that he had actually asked to be executed. He had been in jail for stealing a car, an offence for which he was given a life sentence in 1996. However, the term was later commuted and he was released. A second man, Li Ming, who drove Han away from the scene, was sentenced to five years in prison for hiding the suspect, the statement said. Han's death sentence will be reviewed by the Supreme People's Court, as required of all death penalties in China.