A New Taipei City woman was yesterday convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 12 years in prison for the drowning death of her 15-year-old learning-disabled nephew, while the High Court reduced the sentences of two people convicted in the 2007 murder of a homeless man as part of an insurance fraud.
The teen’s body was found in the Sanchong District (三重) home of his 39-year-old aunt, surnamed Liu (劉), with his hands and legs bound in ropes.
Liu told the New Taipei District Court that she had used ropes to restrain her nephew because he would not listen to instructions, and that while she had been trying to punish him, she had not meant for him to drown.
The teen reportedly had behavior problems due to his disabilities, and had once set his family’s home on fire while playing with a lighter.
Following the death of his mother, his father last year moved them in with the aunt’s family.
The court said that Liu had used cruel methods to inflict pain and fear as punishment, but as she had admitted her guilt and shown remorse, and the boy’s father had forgiven her, it decided to give her a 12-year term for manslaughter.
Meanwhile, the High Court reduced the sentences of real-estate agent Lee Hsien-chang (李憲璋) and his former girlfriend, surnamed Lien (連), in the second retrial for the insurance-linked murder of a homeless man surnamed Liang (梁).
An investigation found that Lee was saddled with business debts and had plotted with Lien for her to marry Liang (梁) and take out a NT$50 million (US$1.66 million at the current exchange rate) insurance policy on his life.
Lien and Liang went to China for their honeymoon, where Liang was pushed off a mountain cliff.
Lien returned home and filed an insurance claim.
However, the insurer requested a judicial investigation and Liang’s father said that he had questions about the marriage and the accounts of his son’s death, as his son was lame as a result of polio.
Lee, now 47, was convicted on murder and forgery charges, and was sentenced to life in the first retrial, while Lien was sentenced to 10 years and six months.
The High Court yesterday reduced Lee’s term to 17 years and Lien’s to eight.
In other judiciary-related news, the Control Yuan yesterday impeached Hsinchu District Court Judge Wu Chen-fu (吳振富), 50, for alleged improper conduct over his reported demands that a female office assistant give him massages and run personal errands for him.
The Control Yuan cited the findings of an investigation last year by the Judicial Yuan’s Judicial Evaluation Committee, which found that Wu had on four occasions ordered his assistant to give him a massage and had required her to pick up his laundry, pay the family’s utility bills, look for tutors for his children and make travel arrangements for family vacations.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
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