The Taipei District Court has convicted Liao Yan-ting (廖晏霆), 27, for the murder in May last year of Chiu Chiao-chi (邱喬琪), 27, a popular YouTuber, who hosted a live-streamed show on 17 Live (17直播).
He was sentenced to 15 years in prison and deprived of his civil rights for seven years.
Liao said he was Chiu’s boyfriend and reportedly told police that he was angry because she had broken up with him.
Chiu was stabbed several times with a kitchen knife, investigators said, adding that she had two deep puncture wounds on her back and numerous bruises, which indicated that she had tried to fight off her attacker and run away.
During questioning, Liao said that after he stabbed her, he choked her until she was no longer breathing, investigators said.
However, during the trial, Liao told the court that he had stabbed Chiu “by accident” when they were in a tussle and that he had no intention of killing her.
He said he had carried the knife to kill himself and had prepared a suicide note that he had kept his backpack.
Liao’s lawyer asked the court to charge him with inflicting injury resulting in death.
However, prosecutors said that Liao had barged into the victim’s apartment with the intention to kill her, as her neighbors had heard her screaming.
Liao could have committed suicide elsewhere, but he purchased the kitchen knife the day before and prepared a suicide note as a cunning way to mislead investigators, prosecutors said.
During the trial, Chiu’s parents broke down in tears when Liao said that he killed her “by accident.”
Liao was a cruel, cold-blooded killer, who tried to deceive investigators and deserves the death sentence, Chiu’s parents said.
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