The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a life sentence given to the organizer of 61 kidnappings that led to the deaths of three abductees in 2022.
Tu Cheng-che (杜承哲) and his coconspirators lured people to rented residences in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) under the pretense of paying to use their bank accounts or offering them high-paying jobs, the ruling said.
Once there, the victims were detained, beaten, tortured with electroshock devices, handcuffed and drugged to keep them subdued, it said.
Photo: Liu Yong-yun, Taipei Times
The group also robbed 50 of the abductees of their belongings and used their bank accounts to collect and launder funds from large-scale fraud operations.
One of them died after falling from a bathroom window while trying to escape, while two others died due to a lack of timely medical treatment, prosecutors said, adding that their bodies were dumped in mountainous areas in Taoyuan and Nantou County.
The case came to light after police raided the group’s hideouts, freeing 58 people who were being held captive.
Tu recruited several accomplices, including Hsueh Lung-ting (薛隆廷), Hung Chun-chieh (洪俊杰) and Wang Yu-chieh (王昱傑), to help direct and manage the group’s illicit activities, the ruling said.
After a period on the run, Tu was arrested and charged with unlawful confinement resulting in death, aggravated assault and organized crime.
The Shilin District Court and the High Court last year sentenced him to life imprisonment and deprivation of civil rights for life.
The Supreme Court yesterday rejected his appeal, making the ruling final.
The court upheld life terms for Tu, Hsueh and Hung, while reducing Wang’s sentence to 26 years due to his lesser role. Yesterday’s ruling concluded all prosecution in the case.
Another of Tu’s accomplices, Fu Yu-lin (傅榆藺), and 28 others were indicted earlier and handed life or lengthy prison sentences, which were upheld by the Supreme Court in December last year.
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