The 10-year-old daughter of a man who hammered his wife to death two years ago is writing to the court pleading for a reprieve to her father's death penalty.

The girl Jin Jin, from central China's Henan Province, had sent the letter to the Supreme People's Court (SPC) in Beijing which is handling the final review of her father Wang Junbao's case, Thursday's China Daily reported.

Wang, a 36-year-old village doctor, hammered his 31-year-old wife Feng Li to death in March 2007 in a fight over trivial quarrels. Wang's attempt to commit suicide failed and was sentenced to death in Dec. 2007 by a local court.

Jin Jin's resolve to save her father moved Ding Qiaorong, head of the Xinxiang orphanage where Jin stayed in after her father went to jail, according to China Daily.

Ding helped Jin Jin find Beijing lawyer Shen Teng, who assisted the girl in writing a letter to SPC and suggested a death penalty with a two-year reprieve instead.

"From my meetings with him to letters left for his daughter, the murderer has repeatedly expressed his love for his dead wife and regrets on his stupid impulse leading to the murder," Shen was quoted as saying.

"If the court can change the death penalty with immediate execution into a two-year reprieve, it will be good for Jin Jin's future," Shen said.

An online survey by major information portal Sina.com on Wednesday showed nearly 64 percent of the 23,781 people polled were sympathetic to the girl and hoped the SPC would overturn the death sentence.

Another 31 percent of the respondents disagreed with a reprieve and said that those who killed people should pay for the murders with their own lives.

"Wang committed an unpardonable crime," lawyer Zhao Xiaolu was quoted by China Daily as saying. "If he doesn't receive capital punishment, there will be even more harm done to society."

"We can not sacrifice justice and equality for mercy," Zhao added.

A death sentence review in China can last for a few months or even longer, depending on the circumstances of each case.

The SPC will overturn a death sentence if it finds the original facts are not clear or if evidence on the case is insufficient.

All the reviews are usually highly confidential and the judges working on the cases are not identified.

Insiders from the SPC told China Daily that the criminal tribunal had not begun handling the case yet. An official, who refused to be named, was quoted as saying that the court would surely deal with it strictly according to law.

"We have to make clear whether the father had abused the mother for a long time and we also have to consider the opinions of the relatives of the deceased," the official said.

Source:Xinhua