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Wu says he can't forgive daughter's killers

Wu Chen-chi, chief of the Keelung City Police Department, urges the government to build a national fingerprint databank which he said would assist criminal investigations. Wu's daughter was raped and murdered eight years ago. Wu said fingerprints helped find his daughter's killers. PHOTO: CHU YU-PING, TAIPEI TIMES

Wu Chen-chi (吳振吉), father of Wu Hsiao-hui (吳曉蕙) -- a primary school teacher who was murdered in 1994 -- said yesterday that he could not bring himself to forgive the two suspects in the case, arrested Wednesday, despite public expressions of remorse by the suspects' parents.

"I am pleased to hear that the parents of the suspects are able to distinguish right from wrong," said Wu, the victim's father and director of the Keelung City Police Headquarters. "But they deliberately used mud and sand to suffocate her. That I can not forgive."

The two suspects, Huang Chi-feng (黃啟峰) and Wang Yu-chuan (王鈺銓), who allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered Wu Hsiao-hui, were arrested Wednesday, nearly eight years after the 25-year-old Wu was found dead in the garage of Hsinhu Elementary School on Oct. 15, 1994.

The Criminal Investigation Bureau under the National Police Administration said at a press conference on Wednesday that the two suspects had confessed to the crimes. Huang was 15 years old and Wang was 11 at the time of the murder.

Yesterday morning, Huang's father called a press conference to apologize to the public and to Wu's family for "the crime my son committed."

Wang's parents also told local media on Friday that if it is proven that their son was involved in the murder, they would apologize.

But, Wu said he could not bring himself to forgive the suspects.

"The way the two murderers killed my daughter was so brutal that even after eight years, I have not gotten over what they did," he said.

"If they had killed my daughter unintentionally, I think I could forgive them someday. However, they strangled her and covered her face with sand and mud while she was still breathing."

Wu made the remarks at a press conference organized by the Peng Wan-Ru Foundation (彭婉如文教基金會). The conference was held to urge the establishment of a national fingerprint databank and to promote community care centers to prevent youngsters from committing crimes.

At the press conference, Wu stressed the importance of establishing a national fingerprint databank, citing the only evidence the police investigating his daughter's case had was a fingerprint found on her car.

However, since both Huang and Wang did not have any criminal record, the police failed to find them through a fingerprint match-up.

With a database, Wu said, the matching of the fingerprints would be easier and the police investigation would be much more efficient.

"Some human rights groups are against the idea [of building up a national fingerprint databank]. Although I also uphold the human rights, I believe that women's personal safety is even more important," he said.
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