The Taiwan High Court yesterday ordered convicted Taipei MRT killer Cheng Chieh (鄭捷) to pay NT$61.39 million (US$1.83 million) in compensation to his victims and the relatives of the people killed in the 2014 attack incident.
If Cheng does not raise an objection to the decision by Taiwan High Court’s Collegiate Bench, then the verdict is final and cannot be appealed, a court statement said.
In addition, a lower court ruling last year ordered him to pay NT$30.91 million in compensation, along with the NT$8.55 million in restitution payments to the families of the four people killed in 2014.
Cheng, then a 21-year-old university student, carried out a knife attack on passengers on Taipei’s MRT system on May 21, 2014, on the Bannan Line between Longshan Temple Station and Jiangzicui Station.
He killed Hsieh Ching-yun (解青雲), Chang Cheng-han (張正翰), Lee Tsui-yun (李翠雲) and Pan Pi-chu (潘碧珠), and injured 22 others.
A number of injured survivors, as well as families and relatives of the four killed, filed a class-action lawsuit against Cheng at the Taiwan High Court, which began hearings on Dec. 16 last year.
The class-action lawsuit was filed in parallel to the criminal proceedings on Cheng’s judicial case, with plaintiffs seeking compensation for the loss of family members, medical treatments, pain and suffering.
During the hearings Cheng said he had no objections and agreed with the amount of compensation demanded by the plaintiffs.
In yesterday’s ruling, the high court ordered Cheng to pay compensation of NT$10 million to the mother of Hsieh, NT$20 million to father of Chang, NT$16 million to Lee Jui-chang (李瑞昌), brother of Lee Tsui-yun, NT$1.8 million to an injured female surnamed Shih (史), NT$2 million to an injured female surnamed Chen (陳), NT$7.29 million to the wife of Hsieh Ching-yun and NT$2.11 million and NT$2.17 million to Hsieh and his wife’s two siblings.
However, there is little chance of plaintiffs receiving any of the compensation, as Cheng’s parents have severed family ties, including moving to an unspecified location and transferring family assets elsewhere, so that Cheng has little money or assets registered under his name.
Lee Jui-chang, who was awarded NT16 million for the death of his sister, yesterday said: “We know that it is impossible to get any money from Cheng. This civil court lawsuit was our way to receive justice. It is for us to close this matter by getting a judicial decision.”
“We sought financial compensation because we want to let Cheng know that he must pay a price for his actions,” he said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
A man in Tainan has been cleared on charges of public insult after giving the middle finger during a road rage incident, as judges deemed the gesture was made “briefly to express negative feelings.” In last week’s ruling at the High Court’s Tainan branch, judges acquitted a driver, surnamed Cheng (程), for an incident along Tainan’s Nanmen Road in September 2023, when Cheng had spotted a place to park his car in an adjacent lane. Cheng slowed down his vehicle to go into reverse, to back into the parking spot, but the car behind followed too closely, as its driver thought Cheng
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
RSS