Taipei: The Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch: resentenced Liang Yu-chih to life imprisonment for the 2020 rape and murder of a Malaysian university student, overturning a previous death sentence after a court-ordered retrial.

According to Focus Taiwan, the High Court explained that Liang’s original intent was robbery and sexual assault, not murder. The court sentenced Liang to life imprisonment for rape resulting in death and added an eight-year prison term for robbery, along with a lifelong deprivation of civil rights. This ruling reversed three earlier judgments that had imposed capital punishment for the killing, though the case may still be appealed.

Prosecutors stated that on October 28, 2020, Liang abducted the Malaysian student, enrolled at Chang Jung Christian University in Tainan, while she was returning to her dormitory. They said Liang strangled her with a rope near the campus, forced her into a vehicle, and sexually assaulted her. After the victim resisted, Liang killed her and abandoned her body in a mountainous area of Kaohsiung’s Alian District.

While acknowledging Liang’s preparation of tools used in the crime, the court stated that this alone was insufficient to establish premeditated murder under current legal standards. The court noted that despite the “brutal” nature of Liang’s offenses, they did not meet the threshold for “most serious crimes” required for capital punishment under a 2024 Constitutional Court interpretation and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Citing psychiatric and correctional evaluations, the court indicated that Liang showed potential for rehabilitation, suggesting that long-term imprisonment with psychological treatment could reduce the risk of reoffending. It also mentioned that inmates sentenced to life must serve at least 25 years and demonstrate genuine remorse before being eligible for parole.

In the original trial, the Ciaotou District Court sentenced Liang to death for multiple offenses, including rape resulting in intentional homicide, robbery causing death, abandoning a corpse, and attempted rape in a separate case. Although the Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch upheld the death sentence on appeal, the Supreme Court vacated the conviction for rape resulting in homicide and ordered a retrial on those charges while finalizing separate sentences for abandoning a corpse and attempted rape.

The Taiwan High Prosecutors Office Kaohsiung Branch announced its intention to appeal the latest ruling.