The Taiwan High Court on Wednesday upheld its previous ruling in sentencing a man found guilty of raping, killing and dismembering a woman in downtown Taipei’s Huashan Grassland near the Huashan 1914 Creative Park in 2018 during a retrial.
High Court spokeswoman Lien Yu-chun (???) said the judges were originally considering handing the death penalty to Chen Po-chien (???), an archery instructor, for the rape and murder of a 30-year-old woman surnamed Kao (?), due to the cruelty of the crime and the fact that he has shown no remorse.
However, a psychological assessment of Chen conducted by Taiwan Forensic Psychology Association determined that Chen be rehabilitated through therapies provided by correction facilities.
The court therefore decided to uphold the sentence of life imprisonment on the 29-year-old Chen, Lien said. In Taiwan, life imprisonment means a minimum 25-years in jail before being eligible for parole.
The case can still be appealed.
In response, Kao’s father said he will appeal the “unreasonable” ruling as Chen deserves to be put to death for what he did to his daughter.
Kao’s father told reporters that Chen has never once apologized to the family and has shown no remorse since the murder.
During the first trial, Taipei District Court in August 2019 convicted Chen of murdering Kao on June 1, 2018, and sentenced him to death.
According to the district court, after strangling Kao to death, Chen dismembered her body, cutting it into 13 pieces, and then disposed of most of the remains on Yangmingshan, keeping other body parts as trophies.
In April 2020, the High Court upheld the murder conviction, but reduced the sentence to life in prison, saying Chen turned himself in and cooperated with the investigation.
However, the Supreme Court, later ordered the High Court to conduct a retrial after it deemed there might be errors in the court’s finding that Chen turned himself in and cooperated with the investigation.
Lien said Wednesday that the High Court determined during its retrial that Chen did not turn himself in to the police and therefore does not qualify for a reduced sentence.
Meanwhile, in two other trials related to Chen’s case, Kao’s family has filed a lawsuit against Taipei City government for its negligent management of the Huashan Grassland, as it was part of an area designated by the city as a temporary artists’ village.
The family lost the first trial in the case in December 2020 and has appealed the case to the Taiwan High Court.
In a civil suit, Taiwan High Court ruled this March that Chen has to pay NT$14.01 million (US$ 505,406) in compensation over the death of Kao.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel