A 44-year-old woman surnamed Lin (林) was yesterday sentenced to 18 years in prison for beating her mother to death last year, although the defense told the Shilin District Court of Lin’s mental illness and alleged abuse by family members.
The judges convicted Lin of assaulting her mother and inducing injuries causing death, and said that despite having a mental illness, she had the ability to control her actions at the time of the crime, so the sentence could not be commuted to a lesser punishment.
As it was the first ruling, Lin can file an appeal.
An investigation showed that Lin lived with her 73-year-old mother in Taipei’s Tianmu (天母) area. The two had quarreled for many years, as Lin said she believed her mother took her things and had placed a death curse on her.
On March 1 last year, Lin knocked down her mother, punched and kicked her, struck her with a blunt object, and strangled her, leaving her lying unconscious in a pool of blood, investigators said.
Lin called the authorities at about 10pm, they said, but her mother was later pronounced dead.
She initially told police that her mother was beaten up in the neighborhood and brought home with serious injuries by two unknown men, but the evidence showed that her mother was at home that day, they added.
A psychiatric evaluation showed that Lin has schizophrenia, and has for years experienced paranoia, hallucinations and delusions, as well as heard voices, with investigators quoting her as saying that a voice inside her head at times controlled her actions.
Prosecutors said that Lin was aware and in control of her actions at the time, as she took out the garbage and misled investigators with false information.
Her lawyer told the court of how Lin’s parents sent her as a high-school student to the US, where she went on to earn a master’s degree, obtained a green card and got married, although she later divorced her husband and returned to Taiwan.
Evidence and psychiatric reports showing the emotional and physical abuse that Lin allegedly experienced from her parents and her husband were presented by her defense as causes of her mental illness.
Her lawyer said that Lin was later involved in a traffic accident that worsened her already weakened physical and mental state, and that she began to display unusual behavior and speech, purportedly showing her break from reality.
Although the court found Lin guilty and sentenced her to prison, it also ordered that she receive regular mental health treatment, saying that her mental condition should be understood so that she can be rehabilitated and kept from relapsing into crime.
ENDORSING TAIWAN: Honduran presidential candidate Nasry Afura said that Honduras was ‘100 times better off’ when it was allied with Taipei The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it would explore the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations with Honduras based on the principle of maintaining national interests and dignity. The ministry made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions regarding an article titled: “Will Taiwan Regain a Diplomatic Ally?” published in The Diplomat on Saturday. The article said Honduras’ presidential election in November could offer Taiwan the chance to regain an ally, as multiple candidates have promoted re-establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Honduras severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in March 2023 in favor of Beijing, but since switching its diplomatic recognition,
A fourth public debate was held today about restarting the recently decommissioned Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, ahead of a referendum on the controversial issue to be held in less than two weeks. A referendum on Aug. 23 is to ask voters if they agree that “the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant should continue operations upon approval by the competent authority and confirmation that there are no safety concerns.” Anyone over 18 years of age can vote in the referendum. The vote comes just three months after its final reactor shut down, officially making Taiwan nuclear-free. Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) represented
Scoot announced yesterday that starting in October, it would increase flights between Taipei and Japan’s Narita airport and Hokkaido, and between Singapore and Taipei. The low-cost airline, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, also said it would launch flights to Chiang Rai in Thailand, Okinawa and Tokyo’s Haneda airport between December and March next year. Flights between Singapore and Chiang Rai would begin on Jan. 1, with five flights per week operated by an Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, Scoot said. Flights between Singapore and Okinawa would begin on Dec. 15, with three flights per week operated by Airbus A320 aircraft, the airline said. Services between Singapore
‘ANGRY’: Forgetting the humiliations and sacrifices of ‘the people of the Republic of China’ experienced disqualified Lai from being president, Ma Ying-jeou said Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday criticized President William Lai (賴清德) over what he called “phrasing that downplayed Japan’s atrocities” against China during World War II. Ma made the remarks in a post on Facebook on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Ma said he was “angry and disappointed” that Lai described the anniversary as the end of World War II instead of a “victory in the war of resistance” — a reference to the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). The eight-year war was a part of World War II, in which Japan and the other Axis
RSS