Some crimes are so bizzarre and gruesome that it’s hard to think of an appropriate punishment.

A man in Foshan, who in 2010 raped a girl then attacked her by shoving a 10 centimeter twig up her anus, has been sentenced to death, according to Southern Metropolis Daily. Wang Huajun, 36, from Sichuan was given the sentence.

On February 25 2010, the then 14 year-old girl, A Hong, was found naked from the waste down in Zhoucun Park in Foshan’s Lishui area. The lower half of her body was covered in blood and a 10-centimeter twig had been shoved up her anus, according to the two pedestrians who found her.

The suspect Wang was arrested in September 2011 and later confessed to committing assault in the park three times but denied committing the attack on A Hong. An investigation involving the city’s Public Security Bureau showed Wang’s DNA to be on the twig, but as recently as April this year, he was still denying the attack.

Wang was found guilty by Foshan Central Court of deliberately causing bodily harm, rape, lewd behaviour, and assault.

On February 25 2010, A Hong was playing with her older brother in a park near the battery factory, where her family work. Her brother left early and implored her not to stay out too late.

Around four o’clock, she set off home, but it was already dark, and on a narrow path that leads out of the park, she was assaulted from behind by a man whose face she did not see clearly. He hit her in the head several times, then removed his trousers. A Hong does not remember what happened after that.

The evening was warm and many people were out dancing. A 17 year-old from Shaanxi Province named Wei and her companion Li were walking through the park when they decided to sit down and enjoy their surroundings. They then heard a muffled cry of “help! Help!” From the nearby woods.

When they found A Hong her clothes were scattered around her, and they immediately called 110. She was rushed to hospital, and within 10 hours she was in a stable condition. At the time, the story got a lot of media attention, and the public donated 220 thousand RMB to her family to cover the cost of healing the serious physical injuries she had sustained. Her parents would walk for more than half an hour every day to visit her in hospital.

Aided by the family, police searched for the perpetrator and eventually narrowed it down to Wang, a worker in a local shoe factory who would continue to hang out in the park regularly.

Wang’s lawyer described the punishment as “excessive” and intends to appeal to have the death penalty repealed.

Some netizens called for Wang to be killed immediately. One netizen said they shouldn’t kill Wang, but very slowly remove his genitals and donate them to a good cause.

Do you think the sentence is fair?