A 55-year-old man convicted of murdering the daughter of his former girlfriend escaped the death penalty on Tuesday after a court found that a lack of sleep triggered the crime.
The Greater Tainan District Court ruled that Wu Wen-hsien’s (吳文賢) “poor management of his emotions” was because he had not slept for three days prior to the murder.
It sentenced him to nine years and 10 months for attempting to murder his former live-in girlfriend, surnamed Pan (潘), and to life imprisonment for killing Pan’s daughter, surnamed Lin (林).
The ruling can be appealed.
On Sept. 23 last year, Wu attempted to enter the elementary school with a concealed knife where Pan worked in the kitchen after she ended their relationship over his drinking and gambling.
One of the school’s division chiefs, surnamed Huang (黃), blocked Wu from entering the campus and notified Pan of the incident.
Afraid of facing Wu alone, Pan telephoned Lin and asked her to meet her at the school after work.
The trio had a discussion at an open lot south of the school that devolved into bickering, with Wu accusing Lin of driving a wedge between him and Pan and causing their separation.
He then stabbed Lin in the chest and Pan in the abdomen. Pan and Lin tried to escape, but Lin was too injured to run and Wu stabbed her again in the chest three times.
Lin later died of massive blood loss.
Prosecutors indicted Wu for murder and attempted murder, and sought the death penalty, saying the crime was “highly reprehensible.”
Lin’s husband said the verdict was “utterly unfair” and vowed to appeal.
“He [Wu] is an animal. How could he do such a thing when my wife already called him ‘father’ and our children referred to him as ‘grandpa’?” Lin’s husband said.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai