Two years ago a man was sentenced to death for murdering his wife. He had attempted to be compensated by an insurance policy for her death. Yesterday in Shanghai, his wife's relatives sought to be paid out for her death via the same policy.
The Shanghai court held a hearing yesterday to look at the claim from three relatives who had asked Starr Insurance, a local insurance company, to pay them the insurance benefits for the murdered woman.
Her husband had killed her two months after they got married in an attempt to be paid out by the insurance company. The husband, surnamed Li, was sentenced to death by a court in Changzhou of Jiangsu Province in 2014, where the couple lived.
He was accused of hiring another man to drown his wife, surnamed Liao, after buying life accident insurance with Starr Insurance for her, with himself named as the beneficiary if Liao died accidentally. She was insured for up to 3 million yuan ($450,000).
Liao's parents and son from her first marriage asked for the money as Li had lost the right to claim on the insurance policy because he had deliberately caused her death. Liao's relatives claimed they had then become the legal heirs of the insurance policy payout, the court heard.
Starr Insurance refused to pay the relatives, arguing that at the husband's trial in Changzhou, it was confirmed Li had planned to defraud the insurance company and the contract should be therefore be ruled as invalid.
The Shanghai court in Pudong New Area has yet to reach its verdict.
