The juvenile court of the New Taipei City District Court yesterday sentenced male and female students involved in a fatal school stabbing of a classmate in December last year to nine and eight years in prison respectively.
The court said the sentences were lower than those that would be handed down to adult offenders in line with Article 18 of the Criminal Code, which states that “punishment may be reduced” for offenders aged 14 to 18.
Under Article 271 of the Criminal Code, “a person who takes the life of another shall be sentenced to death or life imprisonment or imprisonment for not less than 10 years.”
Photo: Chen Wei-tzu, Taipei Times
The defendants had already demonstrated remorse for their “mistake” and “inappropriate words and actions,” but “still need time to study and adjust,” the court said.
The ruling can be appealed.
On Dec. 25 last year during a noon break at an unnamed New Taipei City junior high school, the female student reportedly had an argument with a ninth-grader identified by his surname Yang (楊).
She later returned with another male student who stabbed Yang in the neck and chest several times with a switchblade after the female student allegedly urged him to “kill” Yang during an ensuing fight.
Yang was taken to Far Eastern Memorial Hospital in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) where he died the following evening.
After an initial investigation, prosecutors on May 9 charged the juveniles on suspicion of homicide, and they were detained and held incommunicado.
The case was heavily covered in the news, with many shocked by the killing of a student on school premises.
The father of the male defendant spoke to reporters after the sentencing, saying that his son “should accept the punishment given to him.”
However, in a statement released by the victim’s family criticizing the “leniency” of the court’s ruling, Yang’s father vowed to appeal the decision and said that “our laws have become a protective umbrella for criminals.”
The defendants, who were in junior high at the time of the incident, as well as the school in which the incident occurred, cannot be identified by name in the media due to child protection laws.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
Taiwanese officials are courting podcasters and influencers aligned with US President Donald Trump as they grow more worried the US leader could undermine Taiwanese interests in talks with China, people familiar with the matter said. Trump has said Taiwan would likely be on the agenda when he is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next week in a bid to resolve persistent trade tensions. China has asked the White House to officially declare it “opposes” Taiwanese independence, Bloomberg reported last month, a concession that would mark a major diplomatic win for Beijing. President William Lai (賴清德) and his top officials
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
RSS