Suspended Jhuci Township (竹崎) Mayor Wang Kun-hung (王焜弘) was on Friday found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in the fatal shooting of a Chiayi City police officer in January.
Chiayi District Court Judge Cho Chun-hui (卓春慧) also found Liu Jui-tang (劉瑞堂), the hired gunman who carried out the assassination on police officer Lin Chin-chung (林進忠), guilty of murder and sentenced him to life in prison.
Huang Chun-yuan (黃俊源), Wang’s cousin, was sentenced to 15 years and six months in prison for being an accessory to the crime and concealing the offense.
Photo: Chang Jui-chen, Taipei Times
The gunman’s son, Liu Chia-wei (劉家瑋), was sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in the shooting.
In accordance with the Local Government Act (地方制度法), Wang, an independent who was elected Jhuci mayor in the nine-in-one elections in 2014, was suspended from office on Friday.
He can only be dismissed from office if he is found guilty in a second and third ruling.
Photo: Yang Chin-cheng, Taipei Times
A judicial investigation found that Wang had suspected his former wife was having an affair with Lin, so he offered NT$2 million (US$63,532) as a reward for someone to kill the police officer.
Wang’s friends contacted Liu, who tracked down Lin in front of his wife’s store in Chiayi City’s East District (東區) on Jan. 21 and killed him with three shots from a modified Ithaca shotgun.
Liu then threw the shotgun into a river in Tainan.
Two months later, a local fisherman stumbled upon the weapon, half-buried in a muddy river bank, and reported his finding to police.
Both Wang and his lawyer said the ruling was unfair, because there was no evidence linking Wang to the crime.
Wang’s lawyer said his client is innocent and would appeal the verdict.
Chiayi District Court spokesman Lin Kun-chi (林坤志) said there was a thorough investigation and the judges made the decision based on the weight of evidence.
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
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
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
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