New Taipei City prosecutors on Wednesday charged a woman with allegedly killing her sister-in-law and burying her body in concrete inside their apartment.
Chang Fang-hsin (張芳馨), 38, allegedly used a dumbbell to beat her sister-in-law Yeh Hsiu-feng (葉秀鳳), 37, to death in March this year.
Due to the brutal nature of the murder and because Chang did not show remorse for her crime, the prosecutors said they would request that she receive a life sentence.
Chang and Yeh’s families were living in the same residence in the city’s Sinjhuang District (新莊), but the women had personal differences, and had fought over family property and an inheritance, family members said.
Chang became angry after overhearing a telephone conversation during which Yeh complained about Chang to her relatives, they said.
The two had an argument on March 13, when their husbands were away, investigators said.
They began to fight, and Chang overpowered Yeh, forcing her to the ground, they added.
She allegedly wrapped Yeh’s head in adhesive tape in an attempt to suffocate her, the investigation found.
Yeh continued to struggle and Chang allegedly used a dumbbell to hit her in the head more than 10 times, investigators said.
Chang then dragged her to the bathroom and allegedly drowned her in a wash basin, they added.
Chang was quoted by police as saying she did not know how to dispose of the body, so she dragged it to Yeh’s room and buried it in concrete.
Investigators found that Chang went out several times during the next two days to buy 36 bags of concrete for NT$2,500.
The concrete tomb remained in the bedroom without being discovered for four days, until Yeh’s employer called her family to ask about her.
Members of the two families were shocked to discover the concrete tomb when police came to the house to look for Yeh, investigators said.
Police had to call in specialists to break open the concrete, they added.
Under questioning, Chang allegedly admitted to copying a movie, in which a murder victim was encased in concrete.
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taiwan is bracing for a political shake-up as a majority of directly elected lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) face the prospect of early removal from office in an unprecedented wave of recall votes slated for July 26 and Aug. 23. The outcome of the public votes targeting 26 KMT lawmakers in the next two months — and potentially five more at later dates — could upend the power structure in the legislature, where the KMT and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) currently hold a combined majority. After denying direct involvement in the recall campaigns for months, the
RSS