HEFEI, March 29 -- A former student has been sentenced to death by the high court of east China's Anhui Province for killing a fellow undergraduate in a university library.

The Anhui Provincial People's High Court handed down the second-trial verdict to Hu Hengjiang on Monday, finding him guilty of intentional homicide, the court announced on Friday.

In 2012, Hu, a student of Anhui Medical University at the time, held a grudge against the victim surnamed Tan, who had been chasing a girl surnamed Li. Hu ambushed Tan in the university's library on Dec. 20, 2012, and hacked Tan to death with the axe.

Hu tried to call the police at the scene, however he could not get through. Campus security controlled the area and Hu was later seized by the police.

At the first trial in February this year, Hu received a death sentence with a reprieve, claiming he killed Tan on impulse.

On Feb. 20, the procuratorate of Hefei City appealed against the ruling for being too lenient.

Anhui Provincial People's High Court overruled Hu's claim that he killed on impulse and said the first ruling was "obviously inappropriate".