Lax enforcement and judicial negligence resulted in the death of a woman and her sister in New Taipei’s Tucheng District (土城) on Monday, the father of the two victims said yesterday.
The father, surnamed Chang (張), told reporters that a restraining order had been issued against the suspect, surnamed Hsieh (謝), who had abused one of the victims, who was his wife, for many years.
“She [the wife] had applied for a restraining order [in May] because of Hsieh’s violent temper and constant beatings. He had no income and depended on our family to provide for him,” Chang said.
Photo: Wu Jen-chieh, Taipei Times
“When Hsieh learned that she had filed for divorce and obtained a restraining order, he got angry and issued death threats, saying he would kill her, as well as her father,” Chang said.
After a court hearing on Monday, Hsieh allegedly rammed his car into a scooter carrying the two female riders and used a large kitchen knife to stab them to death in broad daylight.
The prosecutors and the judge are also to blame for failing to enforce the restraining order and allowing Hsieh to go free after Monday’s divorce hearing at the New Taipei City Family Court (家事庭), which led to the tragedy, the father said.
Hsieh had already violated the restraining order many times, which was granted on June 25, he said.
“Hsieh took no heed and continued to come and threaten our family, as he did last week. He forced his way [into our house] and broke things. We called the police to take him away, but the officers said they could only detain him for eight hours, and must then release him. They advised us to careful and to go outside only when necessary,” he said.
“The Family Court session on Monday was to finalize the divorce ... The judge questioned Hsieh first and then let him go, and then questioned my daughter,” Chang said.
“My daughter requested protection when she applied for a restraining order to stop Hsieh from stalking or approaching her. He was required to maintain a distance of at least 100m from our family. However, prosecutors did not make him wear an electronic leg monitor and he kept on violating the terms of the restraining order also, uttering threats against us. The police failed to provide us with adequate protection,” he said.
Legal experts have cited repeated failures by the judiciary, judges and police in upholding the terms of a restraining order in domestic abuse cases, resulting in tragic deaths in many cases.
They said that about 80 percent of restraining orders were effective, but in 20 percent of the cases, abusers repeatedly broke the terms. Victims’ families have said that law enforcement agencies lack an effective response, fail to provide protection and only act upon after someone is killed.
Lawyer Chen Yu-an (陳宇安) said that Hsieh ignoring the restraining order is in breach of the Domestic Violence Prevention Act (家庭暴力防治法).
“Even when a restraining order is issued by a judge, people cannot depend on it for full protection. It is useful in restraining normal and sensible people, but it is useless against someone with a record of violence and assault or mentally ill people,” Chen said.
“When clients request for help to obtain a restraining order, I always ask them if they feel in immediate danger, or if their life is under threat. If they say yes, I would tell them to leave their home, and go stay in another place for the time being. They should do everything to stay away and hide from domestic abusers, and to do so quickly, as a restraining order is useless when they have been threatened with death. It also takes time police to respond to emergency calls, so people should hide, stay with a friend or at a relative’s place,” Chen said.
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