A 14-year-old boy in China has been sentenced to life for the rape and murder of his female classmate.

The student surnamed Jiang, hailing from Majie town, Luoping county in Qujing confined his 15-year-old classmate for a night in July last year, and resorted to violence in an attempt to rape.

Fearing that his crime would be exposed afterwards, he strangled her to death, the Intermediate People's Court of Qujing, Southwest China's Yunnan Province said in its judgement pronounced earlier this week, official media reported on Friday.

The court held that the defendant's acts constituted the crimes of rape and intentional homicide, which necessitated combined punishment for multiple offences.

Given the exceptionally heinous circumstances of the crime and severe consequences inflicted, the offender shall be severely punished in accordance with the law.

As Jiang was under the age of 18 when committing the crimes, the death penalty is not applicable to him, the court said.

According to a previous report from The Beijing News, upon legal review and verification by the Qujing Municipal People's Procuratorate, Jiang was detained on suspicion of intentional homicide on July 8, and formally arrested by Luoping public security bureau on suspicion of rape on July 22, read the report.