Kaohsiung resident Liang Yu-chih (梁育誌) was yesterday questioned by police after a Malaysian woman studying at Chang Jung Christian University (CJCU) in Tainan was strangled to death.
Liang, 28, was arrested late on Thursday and police found the woman’s body shortly afterward.
Yesterday afternoon, police escorted him in handcuffs and leg shackles from Tainan’s Gueiren Police Precinct to Kaohsiung’s Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office for further questioning.
Photo: Wu Chung-feng, Taipei Times
Precinct Chief Yang Ching-yu (楊慶裕) said that the woman, surnamed Chung (鍾), was abducted as she walked home from classes at about 8pm on Wednesday.
Liang told police that he abducted Chung, intending to sexually assault her, and eventually drove to a hillside in Kaohsiung’s Alian District (阿蓮) to dump her body.
Chung’s friends reported her missing and Tainan police said that on Thursday, they identified Liang’s vehicle from CCTV footage near the abduction site, tracing the license plate to Liang’s residence in Kaohsiung.
Police said they found bloodstains and a bag of female underwear in Liang’s car.
Yang quoted Liang as saying that he strangled Chung to death by accident.
Liang allegedly said that he ambushed Chung from behind and dragged her to his car with a twine rope around her neck, and only later realized that she was dead.
He then had to find somewhere to put the body, Liang added.
When the police found Chung’s body, it was naked, except for underwear and the twine rope, Yang said.
Liang also confessed to the unsuccessful abduction of another female student in September, Yang said.
Liang told police that he “did not have the necessary tools, and the woman struggled and escaped.”
The woman reported the incident to police, but had not gotten a good look at the perpetrator in the darkness and the case was dropped.
Liang has a previous conviction.
He was convicted of six counts of breaking and entering to steal women’s underwear in 2012 and 2013, but, as it was his first offense, the court sentenced him to six months in prison, which was commutable to a fine.
Yesterday, prosecutors said that Liang could be charged with murder, sexual assault and abandonment of a corpse.
Members of the public yesterday denounced the police, the university and the Tainan government, saying they were doing nothing to improve public safety, despite the earlier report of an abduction attempt at the same site.
Chung was an only daughter, sources said, adding that when she was invited last year by her high school in Sarawak, Malaysia, to share her experiences of studying at CJCU and living in Tainan, she told them: “Taiwan is very safe.”
Chung’s death is suspected to be a random attack by Liang, who had reportedly loitered on the road outside the university, and has tarnished Taiwan’s image in the international community as a “safe country” for visitors.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday demanded that the police and the Ministry of Education swiftly clarify details of the case.
The police and CJCU must make changes, as they were negligent, the party said, urging President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her administration to better safeguard a safe environment for the public.
Additional reporting by Wan Yu-chen and Shih Hsiao-kuang
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