The court heard that in the lead-up to the poisoning, Wang had quarreled with another teacher at the Jiaozuo kindergarten over how best to handle the students.
Then, on the morning of March 27, 2019, Wang added nitrite to porridge supplied by the school and intended for the other teacher’s students. Wang had previously bought the nitrite online.
Wang had previously been caught trying to poison her husband, surnamed Feng, in February 2017 after an argument. On that occasion, Wang poured nitrite into a glass used by Feng, causing minor injuries.
“The vomit was all over (their) pants. There were other children who were also throwing up, and they looked pale,” the father, surnamed Li, said.
Allegations of needle injuries
Wang’s sentence comes amid fresh allegations of the mistreatment of children at a kindergarten in northern China.
Eight parents claimed to have found unknown needle marks on their children’s heads and bodies after they returned from Zhaojun Dingqi Kindergarten in Hohhot, in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, state media Xinhua said.
According to Xinhua, when asked about the needle holes, the children told their parents that their teacher stabbed them with “toothpicks” and “red needles” for not behaving in class — and ordered them to not tell their families.
In a statement, the Xincheng district police said three women had been detained on suspicion of “torturing children under their guardianship,” although the case remains under investigation.
The Dingqi kindergarten said in a statement that while the school apologized for the concern and worry caused to parents, it had not yet found any evidence to substantiate the claims.
“At present, (we) have cooperated with the police to provide relevant surveillance footage and equipment, and cooperated with the investigation by the public security department,” the statement said.
CNN’s Beijing bureau contributed to this article.