Taipei prosecutors yesterday pressed additional charges against Chan Ho-yeung (陳皓揚), a former National Taiwan University student from Macau, for the alleged killing of a second cat in the capital and have requested severe punishment due to the accused being a repeat offender.
Chan, 22, has admitted killing two popular stray cats — “Big Orange” (大橘子) and “Ban Ban” (斑斑) — drawing the ire of animal rights activists and cat lovers.
The university expelled him on Tuesday after a meeting of the school’s Student Disciplinary Committee, with the decision meaning Chan is not eligible to obtain his graduate degree, despite having completed the course work and his credit requirements.
In yesterday’s indictment, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office charged Chan with violating the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法) after he allegedly killed “Ban Ban,” following the original charge for killing “Big Orange.”
However, prosecutors said they had dropped a charge of theft, which was brought when the case was being investigated.
Prosecutors said there was no theft involved, as Chan did not steal “Ban Ban” to keep it as pet, but rather because he intended to kill the cat.
In an appearance at the Taipei District Court on Aug. 16, Chan admitted to killing “Big Orange,” telling the judge: “I have a psychological problem and I could not control the compulsion to kill a cat. So when I saw Big Orange passing by, I could not restrain myself from committing the crime.”
Animal rights advocates in Macau said they suspect Chan was behind the deaths of three stray cats in the territory during the Lunar New Year holiday and that they are concerned that Chan would harm more animals if he is released and deported back to the territory.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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