The Kaohsiung District Court sentenced a man to death for killing a retired teacher with an iron mallet in Kaohsiung last year.
The man, Liu Chih-ming (劉志明), 38, was given the death sentence earlier this week.
The ruling can be appealed.
Prosecutors said Liu rode his motorcycle around the streets of Zuoying District (左營) in Kaohsiung in December last year to look for his ex-girlfriend, who broke up with him the previous month. He stopped by Lotus Pond, drank a bottle of Kaoliang and headed to a local temple.
Seeing a woman — a retired teacher surnamed Chen (陳) — open the driver-side door to her car after buying groceries at the market, Liu thought of hijacking her car so he could look for his ex-girlfriend. He forced his way into the car and struck Chen in the head with an iron mallet, which incapacitated her, prosecutors said.
He then pushed her into the passenger seat and attempted to drive the car away, but the vehicle’s gear shift was locked, they said.
He demanded that Chen, who was still conscious, unlock the gear shift. When she did not respond, he struck her repeatedly in the head, prosecutors said.
An autopsy showed that Chen was struck 13 times in the head.
Liu stole NT$2,000 from Chen’s purse, wiped the bloodstains from the car and fled from the crime scene on his motorcycle. He hid for five days before he was apprehended by police, prosecutors said.
Liu was found guilty of robbery, murder and other offenses. The court statement said that Liu killed Chen in a cruel manner, then tried to conceal his crime by destroying evidence and hiding from the law.
“The judge concurs with prosecutors in seeking the death penalty for Liu, because of the cruelty of the crime, and little likelihood of him making amends and reintegrating into society,” the ruling said.
“Giving a life term or other prison terms in this case would not reflect the severity of the crime, and would fail to uphold justice and fairness in society,” it said.
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