The Panchiao District Court yesterday sentenced a Chungho resident to 12 years in prison for his killing of a cat burglar who was caught stealing after having broken into his apartment.
According to Judge Dai Chia-ching's (戴嘉清) statement, Chungho resident Hsieh Chih-chung (謝志忠) stabbed the victim surnamed Chen to death in the street after he discovered that Chen was in his apartment attempting to steal from Hsieh around 3am on June 7, 1999.
Hsieh said in his statement to the court that it was dark and raining when the incident took place. Chen fled after being discovered, Hsieh said in court. He then chased the burglar into the streets brandishing a letter opener. When they reached the end of the alley, Chen stopped and turned around. Believing Chen was going to attack him, he lunged at Chen, aiming for his left arm, with the letter opener.
However, Hsieh actually stabbed Chen in the chest. Hsieh immediately called the police and an ambulance but Chen died before emergency officials could arrive.
The police investigation showed that Chen did steal from Hsieh's residence, citing that they discovered evidence in the trunk of Chen's car which was parked at the scene.
The police report says that Chen did not `break into' Hsieh's apartment as Hsieh had testified in court, but that Chen had a copy of the keys.
Chen had duplicated keys to Hsieh's apartment because the originals belonged to Hsieh's younger brother who had lent Chen his scooter a few days before the incident.
According to witnesses' statements to the court, Chen was Hsieh's younger brother's squad chief in the military and they knew each other.
Doubt was cast on Hsieh's statement that he stabbed Chen in the dark in the verdict, which indicates that the alley was not particularly dark even though it was raining that night.
However, Hsieh told the judge that he never met Chen before and it was quite dark when he was trying to defend himself since he had no idea what Chen was trying to do by "abruptly stopping and turning around."
The court believed that Hsieh did not kill Chen in self-defense because the burglar was trying to escape.
"That was the reason why the court came up with a 12-year sentence," said Chen Tsai-wang (陳財旺), spokesman for the Panchiao District Court.
Hsieh is allowed to appeal to the Taiwan High Court within 20 days of receiving the court's verdict.
"I have not decided whether to appeal or not but I am totally astonished and disappointed at this moment," Hsieh said.
"This guy was trying to steal my property in my home and I was sentenced to 12 years for defending my home. What can I say?"
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