Three Americans and a Taiwanese-Canadian were yesterday convicted and sentenced for the murder of a Canadian citizen in Taiwan in 2018, the New Taipei District Court said.
The main suspect, Oren Shlomo Mayer, who has dual US and Israeli citizenship, received life in prison, while Ewart Odane Bent was given 12 years and six months after they were found guilty of killing Sanjay Ryan Ramgahan and of dismembering and abandoning his body, the court said in its ruling.
Jason Hobbie was sentenced to 18 months in prison for aiding and abetting the murder, while Taiwanese-Canadian Wu Hsuan (吳宣) received six months in jail, also for aiding and abetting, the court said.
The defendants can appeal the verdict.
The four were arrested after Ramgahan’s dismembered body was found on a riverbank under Zhongzheng Bridge (中正橋) in New Taipei City’s Yonghe District (永和) on Aug. 22, 2018.
Mayer fled after the murder, but was tracked down in the Philippines two weeks later, after police notified Philippine authorities.
The four defendants were involved in the illegal drug trade, and suspecting that Ramgahan had informed the police of their illicit dealings, Mayer decided to kill him, the court said.
On Aug. 21, 2018, Mayer contacted Ramgahan using a messaging app and arranged to meet him at a riverside park in Yonghe later that evening, court documents showed.
They were joined by Bent, Wu and Hobbie, who Mayer asked to tag along, the documents said.
Mayer and Bent took turns to strangle Ramgahan with a chainsaw chain before Mayer cut his throat with a machete. Mayer and Bent dismembered his body together, the court said.
The victim’s body parts were then thrown into the nearby Sindian River (新店溪), along with the tools used to murder him, the documents said.
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