The family of the victim of a 2015 murder case yesterday expressed anger over Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling upholding the life sentence for convicted murderer Yeh Chun-ting (葉峻廷).
Yeh, now 22 years old, was found guilty of murdering 66-year-old cab driver Ruan Ching-chen (阮慶晨) in June 2015, after robbing him.
An investigation found that Yeh stabbed Ruan with a knife nine times after getting into his taxi and instructing him to head to a remote location in the mountains of New Taipei City.
It was found that Yeh committed the robbery to fuel his drug addiction, stealing NT$17,000 (US$565) from the taxi after stabbing Ruan and pushing him out of the cab, leaving him to bleed to death.
Ruan’s body was found on the roadside the next day.
“Our family is angry at the judges for allowing the killer to remain alive. We cannot accept a life term,” Ruan’s son said.
Throughout the trials, member of Ruan’s family have said that they would not accept an apology from Yeh and have demanded that the court give him the death sentence.
“Only the death penalty can sooth the pain suffered by our family. The judges did not want to do so, but rather justified [earlier rulings]. We do not accept the ruling, but what can we do?” he said.
“My father was an honest man who worked diligently to earn a living for his family and his children, but he was viciously murdered by Yeh, a young man with a drug addition, who stabbed him with a knife nine times,” Ruan’s son said.
“Our mother lost a loving husband and our siblings lost a caring father. Our family was ruined by this murderer Yeh, so we have asked for the death sentence,” he said.
The Supreme Court’s statement said it would be better to let Yeh live and serve out his life term, so he would perhaps eventually be able to make financial reparations to the victim’s family, rather than have him executed.
The possibility exists that Yeh could be rehabilitated, the statement said.
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