The High Court yesterday upheld a life sentence for a man convicted of killing a three-year-old girl, known as “Little Light Bulb” (小燈泡), in a gruesome knife attack in Taipei in 2016.
In the retrial, doctors for the prosecution said that Wang Ching-yu (王景玉), although diagnosed with schizophrenia, was cognitively normal during the attack and capable of controling himself, High Court spokeswoman Wang Ping-hsia (王屏夏) said.
The High Court saw no reason to reduce the life sentence imposed by the lower court, the spokeswoman said, citing Article 19 of the Criminal Code, which lists mental illness as possible grounds for a commuted sentence.
The court decided against imposing the death penalty, as it concluded that Wang Ching-yu’s schizophrenia could improve with proper treatment, reducing the likelihood of recidivism, she added.
Wang Ching-yu is believed to have committed the crime while having hallucinations induced by his schizophrenia, she said, citing doctors’ testimony.
Wang Ching-yu’s family was not aware of his condition and he had not received psychiatric treatment, the spokeswoman added.
The case can still be appealed.
The killing occurred on March 28, 2016, when Little Light Bulb and her mother, Claire Wang (王婉諭), were walking to an MRT station in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖).
Wang Ching-yu grabbed the child from behind and beheaded her with a cleaver.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office had sought the death penalty for Wang Ching-yu, but the Taipei District Court gave him a life sentence in May 2017 and the High Court upheld the ruling in July 2018.
Prosecutors appealed the case, taking it to the Supreme Court, which sent it back to the High Court in December 2018 for retrial, saying that no medical testimony had been presented in the lower court.
Claire Wang, who became a social advocate after the death of her daughter, was nominated for legislator-at-large on a New Power Party ticket in the Jan. 11 legislative elections and is to begin serving in the Legislative Yuan next month.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS