Convicted murderer Wu Min-cheng (吳敏誠) on Wednesday was sentenced to life in prison by the Taiwan High Court, a ruling that angered critics and family members of his victims.
Wu was found guilty of killing two women in separate incidents. In 1993, Wu had an affair with a coworker surnamed Tang (湯). He killed her by stabbing her with a knife multiple times. While on parole in 2009, he shot a kindergarten teacher surnamed Huang (黃) in the head after she wanted to end their relationship.
Wu, 50, was found guilty and sentenced to death in a second ruling on the 2009 case and also in the second retrial. However, on Wednesday in the third retrial, the ruling was reversed to a life sentence, the sentence in the first ruling.
The families denounced the judge’s viewpoint that Wu could be rehabilitated.
At the hearings, Wu said he felt remorseful and made apologies to the families, asking the judge to give him another chance to redeem himself.
Wu cried during the third retrial, kneeling down to beg for forgiveness in front of Huang’s family, but her relatives said they did not accept the apology.
“The judge says this man can be rehabilitated. It is impossible. We do not believe this can happen. This man is cunning and acting to elicit sympathy from the judge,” Huang’s brother said.
The judge said that Wu and his lawyers negotiated a settlement of NT$2.2 million (US$65,199) with Huang’s family and that Wu had shown remorse for his crimes.
Alliance Against the Abolishment of Capital Punishment convener Chen Cheng-yu (陳正育) also criticized the ruling.
“The value of a human life should not be measured by money. It is one thing that Wu is wealthy and he can pay compensation, but it is another matter if the family are not willing to accept his apology,” Chen said. “The government and the justice system kept on giving Wu a chance, but who gave the two women he killed a chance to live? The system allowed Wu to renew his life and gave him parole after the first murder, which resulted in Huang’s death. Who can give her a chance to live again?”
The latest ruling can still be appealed.
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