The mother of a student, who died on May 4, on Friday accused a man of tricking her son into a same-sex marriage to gain legal rights to his inheritance, NT$500 million (US$16.3 million) of land.
The son, surnamed Lai (賴), fell to his death from a 10th-floor residence in Taichung owned by a man surnamed Sia (夏).
The mother told a news conference that Sia, an assistant at a land administration company owned by Lai’s father, on May 4 invited Lai out, promising that he would “teach him how to handle his real estate.”
Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times
However, Sia took Lai to the Household Registration Office in Beitun District (北屯) to register themselves as a same-sex couple, the mother said.
Lai died less than two hours after the marriage certificate was issued, she said.
Sia’s actions suggested premeditation, as he had asked Lai to transfer the deeds for the land to the company, she said.
The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office said that it has listed Sia as a suspect in the case, adding that he posted bail of NT$300,000 after detention was deemed unnecessary.
The Civil Code stipulates that same-sex marriages give partners the same legal rights as other marriages, including inheritance rights.
A lawyer for the mother, surnamed Hsu (許), told the news conference that the marriage was “absurd,” as the two had only met twice, with the first time being last month.
Lai’s mother said that her son had recently started university and had been looking for a girlfriend.
The witnesses to the marriage had been two random people, she said.
The prosecutors’ office said that an autopsy had been conducted on May 12 and it was awaiting the report.
A funeral parlor said that despite Lai falling 10 stories, his body was largely intact, with only one broken arm and little sign of blood, Chinese-language media reported.
Lai inherited 30 plots of land from his paternal grandfather, who was also his biological father, the reports said.
The grandfather had slept with Lai’s mother, an immigrant from China who was married to one of his sons, they said, adding that the father, who died last month, had adopted Lai.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to