A story of romance between a manager at a high-tech company and a civil servant turned into a tragedy when the manager, unable to accept the break-up, allegedly stabbed his former girlfriend to death in Chiayi City on Thursday.
The case has received considerable media coverage because the victim was known to be a model government employee at the Social Affairs Bureau of Chiayi County, while her alleged killer had a high-paying job as a section manager in a high-tech firm in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Greater Tainan.
According to a police report, Lu Cheng-hsuan (呂政軒), 32, who lives in Greater Tainan’s Lioujia District (六甲), began dating Tu Chin-yun (涂蓳芸), 28, in May last year.
Tu was a rising star in the civil service, having achieved the top score in the Yunlin and Chiayi regional admission examinations for civil servants last year.
A while after they began dating, Tu reportedly discovered that Lu had a bad temper, which led her to end the relationship.
Lu had a very hard time dealing with the break-up and began to drink heavily after work, police said.
After learning that Tu’s coworkers were helping her find a new boyfriend, Lu began to harass her and her family, the police report said.
In the early morning of May 30, Lu allegedly rode his motorcycle from Greater Tainan to Chiayi City to wait outside Tu’s apartment building.
When Tu headed out for work at about 8am, Lu took out a 30cm long carving knife and stabbed her in the neck, the report said. The knife severed an artery, causing profuse bleeding and Tu was pronounced dead after arriving at the hospital.
Lu then rode back to Tainan and was apprehended by police as he allegedly tried to commit suicide by jumping into the Wushantou Reservoir (烏山頭水庫).
Lu was quoted by police as saying that he had just wanted “to teach Tu a lesson” and had not meant to kill her.
After being questioned by the police, Lu was held by the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office and charged with homicide and causing bodily harm.
Psychiatrist Wang Chia-ling (王家麟) said that when one’s partner ends the relationship, it is bound to hurt, but one must accept the person’s decision calmly.
He said that talking about it with family and friends or undergoing counseling were helpful ways to deal with the hurt.
“If you want to end a relationship, you should consider whether your partner is a temperamental person. If so, you should proceed carefully and make the move gradually,” Wang said. “One should not arouse a person’s temper by abruptly cutting off contact, as this could trigger an extreme response that may lead to tragic consequences.”
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