A local court in northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Friday heard the appeal of Qiu Xinghua who was sentenced to death for the grisly murder of ten people in a Taoist temple.

The Ankang Railway Transport Court began its hearing at 9:30 a.m. with a bevy of journalists in attendance from across the nation, as the brutal case shocked the whole country.

Qiu, a 47-year-old farmer, hacked to death the temple abbot, five staff and four pilgrims at the Tiewadian temple in Ankang, a city in southern Shaanxi, in July.

He was found guilty by Ankang Intermediate People's Court in October which ruled that Qiu's dispute with temple staff was the motive for the gruesome killings.

In his appeal, Qiu insisted that the abbot had flirted with his wife, and said this was an attack on his dignity which he could not accept.

Source: Xinhua