The Control Yuan yesterday censured police and prosecutors handling a criminal case that remains unresolved after 14 years and charged the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice with lack of supervision.
On Dec. 29, 1996, a five-year-old girl surnamed Lin (林) was found impaled with a bamboo spear. The girl survived the incident, but died last year from complications from her intestinal injuries.
Hsieh Chien-mao (謝振茂), who was originally charged with the crime, cleared his name in a Supreme Court trial in January.
Over 13 years, Hsieh went through eight trials, was given eight-year sentences in two trials and was found not guilty in the other trials.
The way the police investigated the case was fraught with errors from the start, Control Yuan member Gau Fehng-shian (高鳳仙) said yesterday.
“Upon receiving the crime report, Taichung Police Station sent only a standby police officer to the crime scene. The officer went there without plastic bags, cameras and other items to collect crime evidence. He then went back to the office, leaving the scene unguarded for two to three hours,” Gau said.
Gau said the police purposely delayed referring their report to prosecutors until Hsieh had been indicted. The report stated there was no match between the DNA of a bloodstain on the suspect’s clothes and a bloodstain from the girl’s underwear.
Control Yuan members said Liu Chia-feng (劉家芳), the prosecutor with the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office in charge of the case, did not inspect the crime scene in person and he indicted Hsieh before he saw the bamboo and other evidence.
Liu was charged by the Control Yuan with extorting a confession from Hsieh, who was caught by residents while he was allegedly following another girl.
Meanwhile, in other news, the Control Yuan has decided to temporarily withdraw its censure against Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA) officials Wang Shou-lai (王壽來) and Chu Jui-hao (朱瑞皓) for turning a former military detention center used to jail political dissidents into the Taiwan Human Rights Memorial.
In March, the Control Yuan censured the two CCA officials over an exhibition in the park that incurred criticism from former political prisoners. The exhibition was held in the former cell of Wang Hsi-ling (汪希苓), former head of the Military Intelligence Bureau, who had been imprisoned for the murder of a democracy activist.
The Control Yuan on Tuesday held a meeting to review an appeal against the censure presented by CCA Minister Emile Sheng (盛治仁) on May 19.
Control Yuan members Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) and Shen Mei-chen (沈美真), who motioned to censure Wang Shou-lai and Chu, were against the appeal, suggesting the two be impeached instead. However, the view was not supported by other Control Yuan members.
The Control Yuan decided to schedule another date to review the case.
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