A 63-year-old man accused of fatally stabbing a married couple in September last year was indicted for double homicide on Friday, with prosecutors seeking the death penalty in the case, the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Capital punishment is being sought because the suspect, identified by his last name Wu (吳), showed no remorse over his actions, the office said in a news release.
The victims were a married couple who lived above Wu with their two young children in an apartment building in Lingya District (苓雅).
Photo: Huang Liang-chieh, Taipei Times
On the morning of Sept. 15 last year, Wu was apparently annoyed by the noise his neighbors were making and knocked on the door of their residence to complain, police said in their investigation.
After the couple’s children opened the door, the suspect stormed in and allegedly attacked the wife, aged 35, then the husband, 36, who was still asleep at the time, police said.
The crime was carried out in front of the children, who later alerted an apartment security guard.
Police responding to an emergency call found the couple dead at the scene.
Wu was arrested in Pingtung County hours after fleeing from the scene of the double murder.
During questioning, police said the suspect admitted to disposing of the clothes he wore during the attack and the murder weapon.
Explaining their choice to seek the death penalty to the Kaohsiung District Court, prosecutors on Friday said that Wu never formally apologized to the victims’ families.
Also, if he were to be sentenced to life imprisonment and somehow met the requirements for parole and was later released from prison, he would be nearly 90 years old, and by that time there would be no possibility or need for him to be rehabilitated, prosecutors said.
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