The Taiwan High Court's Taichung branch yesterday upheld a death sentence for cannibal Chen Chin-huo (
Chen and Kwang were convicted of raping and murdering a 28-year-old insurance agent Shih Chin-chi (施金池) on Dec. 7, 2003, after Shih visited Chen's motorcycle shop. They were also convicted of chopping up Shih's body.
Both men were originally convicted on 10 counts, each of which carries a death sentence.
Both men gave conflicting accounts to the police and prosecutors about who killed Shih. Chen at first only admitted to helping Kwang chop up the body, while Kwang only admitted that he raped the victim before she died.
Chen also confessed to eating parts of Shih's body, an admission he later retracted.
Shih's remains were discovered in the water tank of Chen's townhouse-motorcycle shop in Taichung County on April 21 last year.
Because the two men did not completely confess to the murder, the Supreme Court had previously withdrawn the verdict reached by the High Court's Taichung branch and asked the court to clarify the details of the case.
"The judges clearly found that both Chen and Kwang raped the victim and killed her, so they maintained the death sentence for both defendants," Chen Chi-kang (
Neither man has completely expressed regret for his actions.
Shih's father broke into tears yesterday morning when he heard the ruling.
He told reporters the judicial process has lasted almost two years, and so he hoped the killers would face their punishment as soon as possible.
"While some human-rights organizations are promoting the abolishment of the death penalty in Taiwan, they fail to understand the pain of the victims' families," he said.
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