A Chinese man admitted killing his girlfriend in the United States but denied it was a planned murder at a trial that opened in his hometown of Wenzhou in east China's Zhejiang Province Wednesday.

Li Xiangnan, 25, was accused of strangling Shao Tong, a Chinese national, to death in a motel room on September 7, 2014, when the pair were students at the University of Iowa, the Wenzhou Intermediate People's Court heard.

Li fled to China the next day of the murder. The murder came to light after Shao's body was found stuffed into the truck of a car on Sept. 26. On May 13, 2015, Li handed himself in to police in Wenzhou.

At the trial, Li said he had overheard his girlfriend telling her roommate she had grown bored with him a few days before they checked in to the Budget Inn for the weekend.

On the night of September 6, 2014, a Saturday, Shao told him she was in love with someone else. During the subsequent quarrel, Li strangled her.

"She covered my face with pillow and I almost couldn't breathe. Then I sat on her and pinched her neck," Li said, according to a report in yesterday's Qianjiang Evening News. "At first she resisted but about one or two minutes later, she didn't move. I shouted her name but she didn't respond. I tried to give her artificial respiration, but it didn't work."

Li said he acted on an impulse, but prosecutors said the crime was premeditated, citing Li's purchase of the suitcase, two dumbbells and a ticket to China before the killing.

Li told the court the couple had met at a TOFEL training class in Beijing in 2011 and became lovers in 2012.

"I have never ever loved a person so much," the newspaper said he told the court. He said they met up every weekend. "We were so close and good."

Li added: "I was too impetuous and irrational.

"I felt so sorry for her."

The court said it would announce the verdict on another date, given the complexity of the case.

China does not extradite its citizens, but says it can put them on trial regardless of where a crime occurred.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)