The High Court yesterday acquitted baker Lu Chin-kai (呂金鎧) of the 1993 murder of a female National Chung Hsing University (NCHU) student, overturning his 20-year prison sentence.
“I thank the judges for believing that I am innocent,” Lu said after the verdict.
Taiwan’s judicial system in 1993 was not as advanced as it is today, he said.
Photo: Yang Kuo-wen, Taipei Times
“I really did not do this thing. Now that I have been found not guilty, I can provide an answer to my deceased parents and to society,” Lu said.
Prosecutors should not appeal the case so that Lu’s long fight for exoneration can come to an end, the Taiwan Innocence Project said in a statement.
Lu was detained in 1994 and his conviction was finalized in 2006, leading to his wrongful imprisonment, the civil society group said, adding that new DNA testing proved his innocence.
The Taiwan Innocence Project began assisting Lu in 2012.
On Dec. 22, 1993, a NCHU student went to a third-floor apartment in Jhonghe City, Taipei County — now New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和) — to interview for a tutoring job.
Chen Hsi-ching (陳錫卿), who had a prior sexual offense record, lured the student to the apartment under the pretext of hiring a tutor, prosecutors and police said.
Chen had been living there with Lu after being paroled a few days earlier on Dec. 17, they said.
Lu subdued and sexually assaulted her and strangled her to death by tying underwear around her neck, they said.
The Banqiao District Court in 1994 sentenced both men to death.
After multiple Supreme Court remands, the Taiwan High Court in its sixth retrial ruled that Lu tied a knot around the student's neck that did not cause death, while Chen later tied a fatal knot, leading to a 20-year sentence for Lu and a death sentence for Chen.
Lu accepted the verdict without appealing. Chen continued to appeal and was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court in 2009.
Lu was paroled in 2012 and later applied for a retrial. The Taiwan High Court in April approved a new trial, and yesterday declared him not guilty.
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