The retrial of the Hsichih Trio began in the Taiwan High Court yesterday amid great media fanfare.
Each of the accused claimed they were innocent of the murders from which they had previously been convicted and said that the confessions they made had been given while they were being tortured by police.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
In the morning the trial focused on the testimony of the three defendants -- Su Chien-ho (
"[Police] put a thick yellow book against my chest and hammered me on the chest. And they then hung me upside down and started pouring water and urine into my mouth," Liu alleged during the hearing yesterday.
Liu said he had told prosecutors he had been tortured but they did not believe him because there were no visible wounds on his body.
Chuang told the three-judge panel sitting on the case that he was at home on the night of the murders which he could not have possibly committed.
Defense attorneys for Liu and Chuang said they both have suffered mental disorders after being imprisoned for over nine years. As a result, the judges especially inquired about the health of the two defendants before questioning them about the murder.
Apart from the defendants' statements, six witnesses also testified at the hearing, providing alibis.
"I was at the Chuangs' that night playing Majhong till 5am. And Chuang Lin-hsun was there playing with us," testified Kuo Ming-teh (
A neighbor of Liu's also testified she had seen Liu, Su, and Wang Wen-hsiao's younger brother Wang Wen-chung (
The three defendants and the younger Wang were friends. Earlier on the night in question, Liu, Su, and Wang had been out together while all the other defendants testified that Chuang was not with them.
Su and Liu claimed the elder Wang had left earlier for home that day and they then went to Keelung with the younger Wang. When the murder was committed, around 3am, they had already returned home, they claim.
Following the murder of the Hsichih couple, the police soon arrested Wang Wen-hsiao, whose family lived next to the couple and who had a record of sneaking into the couple's house and stealing from them.
Questioned by police, who doubted that over 70 stabs wounds inflicted on the couple could have been made by one person, Wang Wen-hsiao confessed to the crime and named his brother and said that three others were involved.
Wang Wen-chung was then forced to make a statement naming those he went out with that night.
The younger Wang was sentenced to two years and eight months in jail for being an accessory to the murder. Wang was summoned to testify in the trial but did not attend the hearing yesterday.
Wang Wen-hsiao's conviction and execution was not only based on his own confessions, but fingerprints found at the scene of the crime. But the reason the conviction of the trio has invoked enormous controversy is that neither the police nor the prosecutors have ever presented direct evidence to prove their guilt.
The proceedings in the court were also shown outside on two TV sets.
Prosecution and attorneys for the victims challenged the court over the legal basis for allowing the live broadcast of the trial, arguing that the broadcast of the trial which involves sexual assault should not have been made public.
Meanwhile, the judge decided that it was allowable to open the court to the public. The proceedings lasted from 9:30am to 9:10pm and will resume next Thursday.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique