The parents of three students who died in a gravel truck accident last January condemned yesterday a High Court ruling which acquitted the driver of murder as a miscarriage of justice.
In January last year, the three students who were attending the Chienkuo Junior College of Technology and Commerce in Changhua City (
The parents of one of the three students, Yang Chun-chi (
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"Remembering all the years I spent bringing up my child, I can't accept the fact that he has been taken away from me forever. And I can't accept that the court has let his killer get away with it so easily," Yang Chun-chi's mother said.
In previous trials, Yang Chun-chi's parents and the prosecution have alleged that he was still alive after being run over the first time by the truck. They also believe the truck driver, Yang Chin-chang (
The driver was placed on probation for four years in 1996 for manslaughter resulting from professional negligence, but was found guilty of murder by the Taichung District Court in December 1999 and was sentenced to a 12-year prison term.
That court additionally handed down a three-year jail term for killing the other two students, again for professional negligence.
In late May, however, the Taichung branch of the Taiwan High Court overturned the district court ruling and acquitted the driver of the murder charge on the grounds that he did not intend to kill Yang when he backed up his truck.
The defendant claimed during the trial that he did not see Yang Chun-chi, who was under the wheels at the right of the truck, but was aware that the other two students were under the wheels on the left side. He said he backed up the truck in order to move the wheels off the two students he could see.
After assessing photos taken following the accident, the High Court found the defendant's statement plausible and determined to overturn the driver's murder conviction, despite the prosecution's protests that the driver had backed up his truck with a malicious intent to kill.
At the press conference yesterday, the student's father displayed the photos in question, and highlighted one by one each of the errors that he had found in the High Court ruling.
He said the court had based its decision on photographs taken after the accident scene had been disturbed, and that eyewitness testimony had been cited out of context.
"It's a ruling based on imagination," he concluded.
Gravel trucks are notorious killers in Taiwan, especially in rural areas where large numbers of trucks operate.
On many occasions gravel truck drivers have been accused of deliberately running over injured accident victims in a bid to kill them -- the logic being that they would not have to pay for the victims' medical care, which they think would be more expensive than the damages for a death.
However, few gravel truck drivers who have killed others in accidents have been convicted of murder, which is punishable by death, a life sentence or jail term of no less than 10 years.
In the majority of cases, the drivers have received light sentences of no more than three years for manslaughter out of professional negligence, as it is often difficult to prove the intent to kill necessary for a murder conviction.
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