HARBIN, Dec. 24 -- A court in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province has sentenced a man to ten years in prison for attempting to kill his daughter.

Yin Zhihe inserted a needle into his two-month-old daughter's body on Aug. 4 this year, suspecting the girl was not his daughter, the court said on Monday. A DNA test has since confirmed Yin is the biological father of the girl.

The girl was taken to hospital the next day and had the needle removed from her body. Yet Yin inserted three more needles into the girl's body from Aug. 15 to 17. Though all the needles were retrieved during an operation on Aug. 23, they have caused multiple organ injuries and respiratory failure.

The court added that it dispensed leniency to Yin on consideration that he turned himself to the police and the homicide attempt was unsuccessful.