The man had abused and strangled a fourth-grader: a 49-year-old was executed for this in the US state of Missouri. In his last words he accepted his punishment.

A 49-year-old convicted murderer was executed by lethal injection in the US state of Missouri . US media reported that the man was declared dead in the prison in Bonne Terre nine minutes after the injection.

The man had been sentenced to death for raping and murdering a nine-year-old girl in 2007. Shortly before his execution, the governor and the Supreme Court refused to stop the execution of the death penalty. The punishment for his “heinous and callous crime” against the fourth-grader remains in place, said Governor Mike Parson.

“Whether right or wrong, I accept the situation as it is,” Christopher Collings said in his final written words. The man had lived with the family of the later victim and, according to his own statements, abused and strangled the child while under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

Missouri executes convicted murderer via lethal injection