Tainan Prison Chief Guard Hsieh Shih-lun (解世倫) will be removed from his position before the end of the week, Deputy Warden Huang Chen-yin (黃珍寅) said yesterday, after evidence emerged of Hsieh’s presence at a crime scene.
“His new position has yet to be decided, but it will definitely be a position where he will not have any contact with inmates,” Huang said.
Hsieh was at the residence of Taichung gangster Lin Yi-hung (林亦宏) at the time he was murdered on Oct. 17.
PHOTO: CNA
After receiving a DVD of the crime from an unidentified source, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) made it public at a press conference on Tuesday.
In the video, Hsieh is seen walking into Lin’s residence about six minutes prior to the crime. Two gunmen suddenly enter Lin’s residence and begin shooting at him. Footage shows Hsieh hiding behind a sofa. After the two gunmen leave, Hsieh checks on Lin and then leaves without calling police or an ambulance.
The warden said that Hsieh admitted that he had befriended Lin when the latter was serving a prison sentence in Tainan 10 years ago.
Meanwhile, Taichung Police yesterday welcomed their new chief inspector and new chief of the Criminal Investigation Corps (CIC) after their predecessors were transferred amid a scandal surrounding alleged close ties between police officers and slain gangster Weng Chi-nan (翁奇楠).
“The chief inspector and the CIC chief had to be replaced to take responsibility in the Weng case,” Taichung Police chief Frank Chiu (邱豐光) said.
The National Police Agency will transfer CIC captain Chang Hsien-yuan (張獻元) to the Changhua County Police Department as a senior counselor, while chief inspector Liang Jen-hui (梁仁輝) will head to the Kinmen County Police Department, where he will be spokesman.
Chang and Liang took responsibility for being at the scene of a crime after the agency on Monday made public video clips from where Weng was shot dead in his office on May 28.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said