The High Court yesterday handed down a heavier sentence to a man convicted of killing a police detective at a karaoke lounge in Tainan last year, turning a lower court’s sentence of 19 years in prison to life.
A review of the investigation and evidence showed that the accused, Mei Wen-kuei (梅文魁), had intended to kill Tainan police detective Liu San-jung (劉三榮), the High Court’s Tainan branch spokesman Wu Yung-hui (吳勇輝) said.
After shooting Liu, Mei did not provide assistance or call for help, which resulted in the detective dying from the bullet wound in his chest, Wu said.
The incident took place at a karaoke lounge in Liouying District (柳營) on June 14 last year, with Mei carrying a modified handgun in a backpack, which he used to shoot Liu at close range.
The Tainan District Court on Dec. 10 last year sentenced Mei to 15 years in prison for homicide, and four years and six months for illegal possession of firearms, which combined into a sentence of 19 years and two months in prison, plus a fine of NT$100,000.
During the trial, Mei claimed that he did not intend to kill Liu and only fired the handgun to scare him. However, investigators found that the two had a long-running conflict, with Mei punching Liu, who sustained injuries to his face, in 2016.
The two attempted to resolve their differences and agreed to meet for dinner at the karaoke lounge, but after having a few drinks, they started arguing again and Mei took out his gun and shot Liu, investigators said.
“We respect the High Court’s ruling, as a life sentence is a heavy punishment for the crime,” Tainan City Police Chief Chou Yu-wei (周幼偉) said. “We will provide enhanced training for police officers on dealing with this type of situation, so they would know how to protect themselves, as well as public lives and property.”
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS