Lee Tai-an (
Pingtung prosecutors have finished investigations for their case against Lee Tai-an and requested a death sentence on charges of murder, destruction of railway infrastructure, endangering passenger safety and illegitimately collecting insurance payouts after the death of Chen Hong-chen (陳氏紅琛), his deceased brother's Vietnamese wife.
Lee Tai-an has denied any wrongdoing and showed no remorse for his actions, prosecutors said.
They said that Lee Tai-an's alleged accomplice, Huang Fu-lai (
Prosecutors proposed a sentence of six years in jail and a two-year probation period for Huang, because he showed remorse and cooperated with investigators.
Pingtung Prosecutors' Office spokesperson Yeh Li-chi (葉麗琦) said that the Lee brothers had been involved in the "wicked and cruel" murder of Chen, but that Lee Tai-an showed no remorse whatsoever, although prosecutors gave him numerous opportunities to admit guilt.
Prosecutors said that the Lee brothers had been planning the derailment since last year.
Lee Tai-an's lawyer, Wu Cheng-chieh (吳澄潔), said yesterday that the prosecutors had no direct evidence against Lee Tai-an.
The accident occurred on March 17, when an express train traveling from Taitung to Kaohsiung derailed in Pingtung County.
The passengers aboard the train included Lee Shuang-chuan, who was a Taiwan Railway Administration employee, and his Vietnamese wife.
Chen died in hospital after the derailment, but prosecutors became suspicious after they discovered that Lee Shuang-chuan had taken out a NT$20 million (US$625,000) life insurance policy on his wife, which covered accidental death, a few days before the derailment.
Chen was reportedly still alive and called for help when she climbed out of the train compartment calling for help. The Lee brothers were not in the same compartment as Chen at the time of the crash.
Investigators said that Chen had first been injected with Etumine, a strong sedative mainly administered to patients with mental illnesses, followed by snake poison, and that Lee Shuang-chuan may have poisoned his wife and deliberately caused the train to derail to mask her murder.
Lee Shuang-chuang's previous wife died from a snake bite in the backyard of their home.
Lee Shuang-chuan was found dead hanging from a tree near his Taitung home on March 23.
The incident was followed by almost two months of live media coverage of goings on at the Lee brothers' house in Taitung County, where reporters monitored family members' every move.
The home also turned into a sightseeing destination, with buses and cars bringing hundreds of visitors to get a glimpse of the family at the center of the drama. Vendors also swarmed to the scene for business opportunities.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
RSS