Yao Jiaxin on court.

A Chinese court on Friday rejected a death sentence appeal filed by a music student who stabbed a cafe waitress to death to cover up a hit-and-run accident.

The Higher People's Court of northwest China's Shaanxi Province announced its decision to uphold the death sentence of Yao Jiaxin after a brief adjournment of Friday morning's hearing.

Yao, 21, a student at the Xi'an Conservatory of Music, was convicted of murdering Zhang Miao last October in Xi'an, the capital city of Shaanxi, to prevent her from reporting an incident in which Yao hit her with his car.

Yao was sentenced to death by the Xi'an Intermediate People's Court on April 22. He appealed his sentence after the trial.

The case has aroused widespread public outcry over increasing incidents of reckless behavior by the country's wealthy younger generation.

"Yao stabbed the victim's chest, stomach and back several times until she died. The motive was extremely despicable, the measures extremely cruel and the consequences extremely serious," Friday's court judgement read. "Although Yao has no criminal record and surrendered himself to the police (four days after the incident), the court has still decided to deny him leniency."