A Taichung woman convicted of drowning her two-year-old daughter during a suicide attempt at a Miaoli County beach has had her 13-year sentence upheld by the Supreme Court.
The woman took the toddler into the water at a beach in Tongsiao Township (通霄) on Jan. 26 last year, intending to end both of their lives, the Miaoli District Court said when it handed down the sentence in March.
The woman did not seek help for her unconscious child after being swept back to shore by strong waves, the district court said.
Police, contacted by relatives of the woman, used data emitted from her phone to track her to her last known location, a beachside gazebo.
They rushed the girl to a hospital, but she was declared dead upon arrival.
Based on messages and testimony from family members, the district court determined that the woman had left her home on Jan. 25 last year with the intention of taking her and her daughter’s lives.
Her behavior was an act of an adult intentionally committing homicide against a child, contravening the Criminal Code and the Protection of Children and Youth Welfare and Rights Act (兒童及少年福利與權益保障法), the court said.
The woman, who told judges that her daughter’s drowning was accidental, took her case to Taiwan’s highest court of appeal following a failed bid to have her sentence reduced by the Taichung Branch of the High Court.
Separately, a man who previously served time for stealing more than 200,000 books and selling them online has been sentenced to four years in prison for the theft of nearly 3,000 books since his release.
The man, identified by the surname Hsiao (蕭), was arrested by Chiayi police in 2015 after being observed entering local stores and stuffing books into a backpack.
An investigation found that Hsiao had stolen more than 200,000 books over eight years and sold them on Internet auction Web sites, earning more than NT$10 million (US$325,606).
Hsiao was sentenced in 2016 to 18 months in prison.
However, a verdict handed down on Tuesday by the Changhua District Court found that Hsiao had returned to the practice after completing his prison term in March 2018.
From October 2020 to April last year, Hsiao stole nearly 3,000 books from stores in New Taipei City, Taichung and Changhua County, again selling them online, the verdict said.
In October last year, he was reported to police for stealing beer, fruit and other items from a supermarket in Changhua’s Sihu Township (西湖), it said.
Using surveillance footage, police tracked Hsiao to his residence, where they found 725 books.
The Changhua court said that because Hsiao had committed theft within five years of his previous conviction, the Criminal Code defines him as a recidivist, justifying a heavier sentence.
Hsiao’s four-year sentence is commutable to a fine of NT$1,000 for each day of detention.
The ruling can be appealed.
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