A Shenzhen court sentenced two people to death for robbing and murdering 12 female jobseekers between May and October.

The Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court found Ma Yong, a 43-year-old from Hunan, and Duan Zhiqun, a 20-year-old woman from Sichuan, guilty of robbing and killing 12 young women who were lured to their residence in Buji, Longgang District, from a job market.

They stole small amounts of money and 10 mobile phones after killing their victims, the court said. Ma was responsible for the deaths of the 12 women while Duan helped her in the murders of five, according to the ruling.

The two killers met at the end of last year and moved in together in April before conspiring to commit the murders from May 26.

They coaxed the victims to their rented home with bogus job offers and then strangled them to death. The police discovered the clothes, shoes, handbags and mobile phone IC cards of most of the victims at the killers' residence.

The couple was arrested in October after the 12 young women were reported missing.

The court ordered the pair to pay compensation to the families of the victims.

(Shenzhen Daily November 28, 2003)