Court frees waitress who stabbed official to death

A Chinese karaoke bar waitress who became a folk hero after fatally stabbing a Communist Party official who demanded sex was freed today, state media said.

The case has garnered widespread sympathy for Deng Yujiao (aged 21) who was found guilty of causing injury with intent - in this case using excessive force in self-defence - but ruled that she was exempt from punishment, the official Xinhua News Agency said.