Story By: Lee Bullen,Sub Editor: Joseph Golder,Agency: Asia Wire Report

This man who was convicted aged 16 of raping and killing a schoolgirl in 2006 has been acquitted of the crime after serving 13 years behind bars.

According to reports, Zhang Zhichao was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2006 when he was 16 years old after being charged with raping a school classmate with the surname Gao.

They both attended the No 2 High School in the county of Linmu in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong.

Zhang was acquitted by the Shandong High People’s Court who overturned the Linyi Intermediate People’s Court’s original ruling, according to local media.

The victim was reported as missing in January 2005 and her body was later found in a school toilet.

Zhang was arrested several days later based on allegations made by two other students, according to reports.

The 2006 verdict said that Zhang had raped the victim before strangling her to death and then moving her body to a toilet.

According to the original ruling, when Zhang supposedly left the scene, he is said to have asked his friend Wang Guangchao to guard the toilet while he went to buy a lock to bolt the cubicle door closed.

However, the police never found Zhang’s hair or sperm at the scene and there were contradictions regarding the time of the murder, according to Zhang’s lawyer Wang Dianxue.

The original ruling said that Gao had been killed at 6.20am despite other students confirming that she had taken part in a school exercise at 6.20am and was in class at 6.30am.

According to local media, the high court’s hearing was postponed six times before finally getting underway last month.

Zhang was acquitted along with his classmate Wang Guangchao, who had initially received a three-year suspended sentence for giving false evidence and covering up the crime.

The police are currently reopening the investigation into the girl’s murder while also probing claims that Zhang was forced into signing a confession at the time.

Reports said he is eligible for compensation, but it is unclear when he plans to sue the original court for the wrongful ruling.

The victim’s family have yet to respond to Zhang’s release and the new information that has come to light.

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