The High Court yesterday upheld the conviction of a man found guilty of raping, killing and dismembering a woman in Taipei in 2018, but overturned his death sentence.
It sentenced Chen Po-chien (陳伯謙), an archery instructor, to life in prison for the rape and murder of a 30-year-old woman surnamed Kao (高), who had been a student at his Yejucaotang (野居草堂) studio in the Huashan Grassland near Huashan 1914 Creative Park.
The High Court ruling said it had reduced the Taipei District Court’s sentence in view of the fact that Chen had turned himself in to police after he was listed as a suspect in Kao’s murder.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The judges also upheld his conviction for the theft, desecration and abandonment of Kao’s body, High Court spokeswoman Lien Yu-chun (連育群) said.
The victim’s family said they were not happy with yesterday’s rulings and planned to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Kao’s father told reporters that Chen has never once apologized to the family and has shown no remorse since the gruesome murder.
He was going to file a lawsuit against the Taipei City government for its negligent management of the Huashan Grassland, as it was part of an area designated by the city as a temporary artists’ village.
The Taipei District Court in August last year convicted Chen of murdering Kao on June 1, 2018.
Over the next two days he dismembered Kao’s body, cutting it into 13 pieces, and then took most of the remains to Yangmingshan, where he dumped them.
After turning himself in to police, Chen reportedly confessed to strangling Kao, but during his trial last year, he said he had only helped dispose of her body, and that another Taiwanese man, identified only as “Eric,” was the real killer.
The lower court ruled that Chen’s testimony should be disregarded.
Chen appealed his conviction to the High Court.
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