The Taichung branch of the Taiwan High Court yesterday overturned a life sentence for a man convicted of a brutal killing last year, handing down a reduced 18-year prison term and sparking outrage from the public over the sentence many perceive to be lenient.
The court cited 49-year-old Hsu Wen-ping’s (許文炳) claim of being intoxicated when he killed a friend, Huang Chun-hsiung (黃俊雄), with a knife and the defense’s argument that Hsu is an alcoholic as reasons for the reduced term.
In the first ruling by the Changhua District Court, Hsu was convicted of killing 51-year-old Huang on Jan. 17 last year and received a sentence of life in prison.
An investigation found that Hsu beat Huang, knocked him unconscious with a wooden stool and then stabbed him repeatedly with a utility knife.
Huang reportedly had 17 cuts on his head.
The investigation also found that Hsu cut off Huang’s testicles and left him to bleed to death.
“The men were friends, but got into a squabble over borrowed money and other disputes. Hsu carried out the killing with extreme cruelty and savagery, and he will receive a life sentence due to the vicious nature of the crime,” the Changhua court said in a statement after the first ruling.
When questioned by authorities, Hsu admitted to the killing, saying that Huang owed him NT$3,000 and that he suspected Huang was having a relationship with his ex-wife.
Hsu said that after drinking, he became emotional and rode his motorcycle to Huang’s residence in Changhua County, where they began fighting.
He said that he knocked Huang unconscious with a wooden stool and vaguely recalled stabbing him with a knife.
While he initially denied cutting off Huang’s testicles, Hsu was later quoted as saying: “I do not remember what happened, but later I found his testicles in my hands. I must have grabbed and pulled them off by force.”
However, after police showed him the evidence, Hsu admitted to using the knife to mutilate Huang.
Hsu and Huang often went out drinking together, said a friend of both men, who told police that Hsu was experienced in butchering wild turtles for food.
“The way he used the knife to cut up Huang’s head and chop off his testicles, Hsu was applying his experience, treating Huang just like a butchered turtle,” the friend said.
In yesterday’s ruling, the judges cited the results of a medical assessment by Taichung Veterans General Hospital submitted by the defense, which found that Hsu has alcohol use disorder and that his mental state was likely impaired during the murder due to alcohol.
The judges said Hsu qualified for a reduced term under Article 19 of the Criminal Code, which governs crimes committed by people with mental disorders and stipulates that “punishment may be reduced ... as a result of an obvious reduction in judgement.”
Many people were angered by the ruling, saying that the judges are out of touch with society.
Some said it could create a precedent, as would-be murderers could be shown leniency if they first consume alcohol, with others adding that the nation’s courts are encouraging drunk drivers to kill more people, as they would receive lenient punishment.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater