The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a ruling that sentenced a man in Tainan to 20 years in prison for killing his bedridden mother who had dementia.
The ruling was final.
The court filing said the 58-year-old man, surnamed Hsu (許), stabbed his mother, 80, three times with a knife on Dec. 12, 2023.
Photo: Chang Wen-chuan, Taipei
The investigation found that Hsu’s mother at about 5am that day deliberately fell on the floor and refused to get up, and Hsu in a fit of anger took a kitchen knife and stabbed her three times in the chest, it said.
Hsu at about 6am texted his sister saying, “there is no more pain,” and tried to cut his neck in an apparent attempt to commit suicide, investigators said.
He later left the house on a bicycle, and at about 7am texted again, saying: “I have killed our mother. You come and recover the body.”
The woman then called their eldest sister, who lived with their mother, to tell her to call for an ambulance.
Hsu’s mother was taken to the hospital, but was pronounced dead at about 8am due to bleeding and a collapsed lung.
Police tracked down Hsu the same day on a road in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁). He had a knife on him and was detained for questioning.
Tainan prosecutors charged Hsu with homicide of a family member, which carries a maximum punishment of death penalty or life in prison.
During the initial trial, Hsu admitted to his crime, and family members testified that he had taken care of his mother, who had chronic illnesses due to two strokes and had dementia, for one-and-a-half years, saying he had looked after her at home and taken her to physical therapy sessions.
“Family members told the court that Hsu was not an ungrateful son who did not have filial piety,” the court filing said. “He did not have professional training in looking after the elderly and was the mother’s primary caregiver, which had taken a toll on him physically and mentally.”
Most of Hsu’s family members were understanding and forgave him, as the mother had suffered two strokes, and had dementia and mobility issues, they said.
Citizen judges in the first ruling took into consideration the circumstances of the case and handed him a 20-year term.
The ruling was upheld by the High Court and the Supreme Court.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
RSS