A WOMAN has been sentenced to three years in prison for beating her husband to death with an iron pipe, Jiading District People’s Court said yesterday.

　　The defendant, surnamed Li, 69, admitted to murdering Zhang Huicheng, but argued in court that she did so after suffering years of domestic abuse at his hands.

　　Li said that she struck Zhang repeatedly about the head with the pipe while he was sleeping at their home in Jiading on May 3 last year. She said that Zhang had earlier the same day threatened to kill her and their grown-up children.

　　After fatally wounding her husband, Li attempted, but failed, to take her own life by slashing her wrists, the court said in a statement.

　　Zhang’s body was discovered two days later when the couple’s children visited the family home, the statement said, without elaborating.

　　One of the children contacted the police and Li confessed to the murder.

　　The court said it recognized that Li had been a victim of abuse and in acknowledgement of her confession had shown leniency in its sentencing.