Kung Chung-an (龔重安), accused of the murder of an eight-year-old girl who was assaulted on a Taipei school campus, should be put to death, prosecutors said as they filed homicide charges against him yesterday.
Kung, 29, was accused of entering Wenhua Elementary School in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) on May 29 and slicing the throat of a student surnamed Liu (劉), who died in hospital the following day.
When Kung was taken to Taipei Veterans General Hospital to be examined by psychiatrists and questioned by prosecutors, he spoke of suffering mental illness and hearing voices, officials said.
Medical assessments found that Kung was fit to stand trial and was not affected by psychological disorders at the time of the incident and did not suffer from any physical or mental illness, Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office spokesperson Su Pei-yu (蘇佩鈺) said.
According to the prosecutors’ statement, Kung killed the girl in an act of extreme cruelty by slashing her throat, traumatizing her family and causing pervasive fear in society.
“As the medical assessment indicated no reason for reducing Kung’s punishment, the court is asking for the maximum penalty, a death sentence, along with deprivation of his civil rights for life, to maintain law and order,” Su said.
While being questioned by prosecutors, Kung reportedly confessed to the killing, saying he could not deal with the stress and social pressure of not being able to find a regular job and having no girlfriend, while his relatives cast aspersions on his life.
Kung’s lawyer requested leniency, saying that the defendant had turned himself in.
After the alleged incident, Kung washed his hands, called police to report the crime and waited on a staircase for officers to arrive, the lawyer said.
Su said prosecutors did not agree that Kung had turned himself in because calling the police was part of his plan and it was not an act of remorse.
The victim’s father, speaking through his lawyer, last night said: “I hope Kung can take responsibility for his action. My wish is to see the law carried out and that is the death sentence. I do not want to see another tragedy like this again.”
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