HARBIN, June 16  -- A husband and wife were sentenced to death and life imprisonment respectively by a court in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on Monday in a case involving attempted rape and murder.

The verdict was announced four days after a non-public trial as the victim was a minor.

Bai Yunjiang and his wife Tan Beibei were convicted of intentional homicide, attempted rape and robbery, the Jiamusi Intermediate People's Court said in a verdict.

On July 24 last year, Tan, pregnant at the time, lured a 17-year-old girl to her home by pretending to have pains in her abdomen and asking her for help. The couple, who were arrested four days later, drugged the girl and attempted to rape her, the court said.

Although the rape failed, the couple killed the girl and buried her in a rural area as they feared their crime would be uncovered, the court said.

Tan said her husband knew that she had sex with several other men, and the idea of luring a young girl for her husband to rape emerged out of guilt, the court said.

The court found that the couple earlier failed on two occasions to rape one of their daughter's classmates and rob and kill one of Bai's former middle school classmates in late June and mid July last year.

Tan gave birth to a boy in August while in police custody. The child has been sent to a local welfare center, after the couple and their relatives gave up custody.