The Supreme Court today upheld the sentence for Chen Po-yan (陳柏諺), who was found guilty of murdering a Malaysian student in 2022, rejecting an appeal by prosecutors to sentence him to death.
The ruling is final.
The High Court in March reduced the sentence for Chen from life imprisonment to 18 years and 10 months after the Supreme Court overturned the High Court’s initial ruling and sent the case back for a retrial.
Photo: CNA
The High Court had ruled that Chen qualified for a reduced sentence as he had confessed and shown remorse, the Supreme Court said.
Chen’s confession meant that public resources were not wasted and innocent people were not dragged into the case, the Supreme Court said.
The High Court ruled in accordance with Constitutional Court Judgement No. 8, taking into consideration that the murder was the result of a financial dispute and was not planned, and that Chen did not physically abuse the victim, resulting in further suffering, the Supreme Court said.
It could not be considered “the most serious” of premeditated crimes and therefore the court could not impose the death penalty, the Supreme Court said, adding that the jail sentence was proportional.
Prosecutors have no legal ground to request the death penalty, the Supreme Court said, rejecting their appeal.
The victim, a Malaysian woman surnamed Chai (蔡), was 24 years old at the time of her death and a student at a university in Taipei.
Chen first contacted Chai on Instagram in April 2022, then again on Oct. 3 that year. He invited her to dinner on Oct. 7, after which he visited her rented accommodation multiple times, investigators found.
On Oct. 13, Chen demanded Chai repay NT$99,999 that he had lent her, and when she refused, he strangled her and smothered her with a pillow, causing her to suffocate to death, investigators found.
Chen then attempted suicide, and as police and firefighters were reviving him, he reportedly confessed to the crime.
Additional reporting by Hollie Younger and Yang Kuo-wen
EXCUSES: Beijing is using government and research vessels as a pretext to harass the nation and enter its EEZ, and engage in ‘hegemonic expansion,’ the coast guard said The Coast Guard Administration yesterday said it drove away Chinese oceanographic research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 22 (向陽紅33) from restricted waters after warning it that it was in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Chinese vessel entered restricted waters off the coast of Yilan County’s Suao (蘇澳) at 11:35pm on Thursday, the coast guard said, adding that it dispatched the Lanyu patrol vessel and the boat PP-10077 to shadow the Chinese ship and issue radio warnings ordering it to leave. China has no sovereignty over waters off Taiwan’s east coast, Lanyu’s crew told Xiang Yang Hong 22 over the radio, and demanded
BAIT AND SWITCH: Allowing KMT-run counties to sell to China while the threat of abrupt cancelations hangs overhead is another form of coercion, officials said Beijing is using agricultural purchase offers announced during the Straits Forum to deepen Taiwan’s dependence on the Chinese market, a Taiwanese official said yesterday as they criticized the Taitung County commissioner’s participation in the initiative. During the Straits Forum held in Xiamen on Saturday, Chinese officials announced a sales and purchase agreement for agricultural products from some counties led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴), who was barred from attending the event in person by the Mainland Affairs Council, participated via video. Under the agreement, China would purchase atemoyas, pomeloes, tea and grouper harvested in Taitung,
SHIFTING FIRE: While the tempo of purely military exercises around Taiwan has gone down somewhat, Beijing is working to isolate Lai diplomatically from support abroad Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is shifting tactics in his campaign to pressure Taiwan, ramping up diplomatic isolation of the nation while dialing down provocative displays of military aggression. Taiwan recorded a daily average of five Chinese military aircraft crossing the Taiwan Strait’s buffer line with China through May this year — half the number logged in the same period last year. In March, Beijing did not send a single fighter jet near Taiwan for seven days, the longest absence on record outside of typhoon season. In comparison, China sent 153 planes near Taiwan during one day at its peak in
Four Taiwanese universities have been ranked among the world's top 200 institutions in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings for next year, the highest Taiwan has ever placed in the category, with National Taiwan University (NTU) achieving its best performance at 54th globally and 17th in Asia. The four Taiwanese institutions in the global top 200 are NTU (54th), National Tsing Hua University (142nd), National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (177th) and National Cheng Kung University (191st), the rankings showed. All four universities achieved their highest-ever global rankings this year, QS data showed. National Cheng Kung University entered the top 200 for
RSS