The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a lower court ruling of a 12-year prison term for a New Taipei City woman who killed her live-in boyfriend in August last year during an argument over a pizza delivery.
Pan Ying-chen (潘盈真), 26, was found guilty of homicide for fatally stabbing 29-year-old Chang Chao-chieh (張朝傑) at the couple’s apartment in New Taipei City’s Yonghe District (永和).
Pan was convicted in two rulings by lower courts, which sentenced her to 12 years in prison, but she appealed both verdicts.
Photo: Hsu Sheng-lun, Taipei Times
The Supreme Court’s verdict is final and cannot be appealed.
Chang died on Aug. 7 last year as Typhoon Soudelour was sweeping the nation, shortly after being taken to a local hospital for treatment of a deep knife wound to the chest, which severed a major artery.
Pan said that Chang had stabbed himself, but an investigation found evidence that she had plunged the knife into his chest.
In a statement given during the investigation, Pan said that she and Chang had decided to order a pizza for dinner, but when the delivery man arrived, they argued over who should go downstairs to collect the pizza.
Chang eventually decided to fetch the pizza, but was upset and threw it on a table upon his return, and the couple resumed their argument, Pan said.
She said that Chang told her that he wanted to break up and move out, and began to gather his belongings.
She said that she asked him to stay, but he refused.
As he prepared to leave the apartment, Pan said she grabbed two kitchen knives and threatened to hurt herself if he left.
In an ensuing struggle, Chang grabbed her hand and accidentally stabbed himself in the chest, she told police.
However, investigators determined that Chang could not have made the 12cm-deep wound himself with the kitchen knife recovered at the scene, indicating that the fatal blow was most likely delivered by Pan.
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
RSS