A man in Keelung was arrested by police early yesterday after the body of his five-year-old son was found at his residence the previous day.
According to local authorities, the suspect, identified by his surname Chien (簡), fled the scene, but was tracked down and brought in for questioning.
Photo: Lu Hsien-hsiu, Taipei Times
The arrest came after the boy's mother sought help from the authorities on discovering the body in her husband's residence at 9:38pm on Wednesday.
The child was later pronounced dead by a hospital after efforts to resuscitate him failed.
The boy's parents had been living apart for a while, indicating that he was picked up by his father from an after school institute in Keelung that afternoon, the city government said.
The child was supposed to be dropped off at his grandmother's home, but when Chien failed to return their son, his estranged wife rushed to his residence.
Speaking to reporters at a news conference, the Keelung Department of Social Affairs said there was no record of domestic violence involving the parents.
The couple got into a heated argument on April 23 and the wife filed for a protection order against her husband the same day, the department said.
However, at the time, the wife still wanted her husband to have visitation rights to their son, it added.
According to police, the protection order has yet to be reviewed and granted by Keelung District Court.
Yesterday, the Keelung court said that on Tuesday last week it received a case from the police regarding the victim's application for an "ordinary" protection order.
Since the application was not for an "emergency" protection order, a judge is scheduled to review the case on June 6 in accordance with the Domestic Violence Prevention Act (家庭暴力防治法), the court said.
The city government expressed deep regret over the incident and reaffirmed its zero-tolerance of child abuse, Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑) said.
In the coming days, the city government plans to meet with the court to review and discuss procedures related to protection orders, including the speed of approval and the effectiveness of such orders at safeguarding victims, with the goal of reducing the risks posed by domestic violence, Hsieh added.
Following preliminary questioning, police said that Chien confessed to the crime and is currently being investigated by the Keelung District Prosecutors' Office for murder.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
RSS