The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted Chen Po-chien (陳伯謙) on charges of sexual assault and murder, in addition to abandonment and destruction of a corpse, and asked the court to hand out “the most severe punishment,” meaning prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Chen, an archery instructor, is accused of killing a woman, surnamed Kao (高), on May 3.
Chen had rented a space from Unregulated Masses (野青眾), a collective that runs an art project known as the 120 Grassroots Self-Autonomous Zone (120草原自治區) in Taipei, where he built a hut and other structures to teach archery.
Kao had signed up for his archery class.
Prosecutors said that based on evidence and witness testimonies, Kao had attended a party at Chen’s hut on May 31, where they consumed alcohol.
They said that Chen admitted during questioning that he tried to have sex with Kao when she fell asleep, but she woke up and resisted his advances.
Chen said her resistance angered him and he used both hands to strangle her to death, according to the indictment.
Two days after her death, Chen allegedly used a knife to dismember Kao’s body and stuffed it into plastic bags and discarded them in the mountains, it said.
Prosecutors said that investigators expended a lot of effort to search for Kao’s body and other evidence.
They said they do not rule out the possibility that Chen, 37, might have an accomplice.
The court approved prosecutors’ request to continue to detain Chen, citing the likelihood of collusion and tampering with evidence.
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