A woman who in 2021 set fire to a Kaohsiung building in which 46 people died and 41 were injured was handed a life sentence by the Supreme Court on Thursday.
The verdict is final and cannot be appealed.
The court declared the ruling from a lower court in August last year “error-free,” in which Huang Ke-ke (黃格格) was found guilty of homicide and arson, and sentenced to life imprisonment and disenfranchisement for life.
Photo: Taipei Times file
The Supreme Court agreed that Huang deliberately left burning residue from mosquito repellent incense on a sofa in her boyfriend’s apartment in the Cheng Chung Cheng (城中城) building on Oct. 14, 2021, with the incense later sparking a fire that spread through the building.
The first trial at the Kaohsiung District Court in 2022 found the woman guilty of arson and manslaughter. She was sentenced to life imprisonment and disenfranchisement for life for the first crime, which was considered more severe.
However, the Kaohsiung branch of the High Court overruled the manslaughter verdict a year later, arguing that there was sufficient evidence of Huang’s intent to cause harm.
However, the High Court upheld the life sentence, stating that the crime did not meet the threshold of the “most serious crimes” under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Prosecutors appealed again, saying that Huang’s crime is “no less than a merciless terrorist attack,” and she should receive the death penalty.
The Supreme Court’s ruling on Thursday reaffirmed the life sentence, emphasizing that while Huang might have anticipated some risks from her actions, the severity of the outcome likely exceeded her expectations, distinguishing her crime from willfully cruel murders.
Moreover, the inadequate management of the aging building and negligence from authorities should also be considered as contributing factors to the fatalities, the court said in a news release.
The fire in Yancheng District (鹽埕) was the second-deadliest building fire in Taiwan, after a blaze at the Weierkang Club in Taichung that killed 64 people in February 1995.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS