ZHENGZHOU - A central China court on Friday handed down a death sentence to a knifeman who wounded 23 elementary school students at a school in Guangshan county, Henan province, last December.

The Intermediate People's Court in Xinyang city convicted Min Yongjun of assault with intent to kill in the first trial sentence.

On December 14, Min, 36, stabbed an elderly woman in Chenpeng village, then broke into the village elementary school, where he attacked students.

Police investigation indicated that the "doomsday" rumors that swept society in late 2012 had driven Min to carry out the attack.

Although Min was diagnosed to be of "limited capacity" through forensic psychiatric evaluation, the court held that he had "subjective culpability of mind" when he conducted the mass knife attack, which left the victims and their families with great pain, and had extremely adverse social effects.