The Kaohsiung branch of the High Court on Tuesday commuted a local man’s death sentence to life imprisonment after a fourth retrial.
Liu Chih-ming (劉志明) robbed and killed a woman, surnamed Chen (陳), near Haluo Market (哈囉市場) in Kaohsiung’s Zuoying District (左營) on Dec. 3, 2014, the court said.
Liu had been riding a scooter to visit his former girlfriend, hoping to reconcile, court documents from previous trials showed.
Photo: Pao Chien-hsin, Taipei Times
He was carrying a hammer and planned to threaten her if she refused, the documents said.
However, he could not find his girlfriend, they said.
Later, he saw a woman who had just finished grocery shopping at the market and was getting into her car, they said.
He attacked the woman, surnamed Chen (陳), with the hammer, planning to steal the vehicle to continue his search, but a lock on the controls prevented him from driving it, they said.
Liu struck Chen on the head 13 times, they said.
Unable to take the vehicle, he raped the woman and took NT$2,000 from her purse, the documents said.
Police found the body of Chen, a retired teacher, in the vehicle, they said.
Liu was sentenced to death in all four previous verdicts.
However, after the Supreme Court sent the case back to the Kaohsiung court four times upon appeals, it ruled that Chen was a random target of Liu.
As Liu did not deliberately target her, his crime does not fit the category of “most serious crimes” according to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Kaohsiung court said, adding that the death penalty can only be implemented under such circumstances.
There was a lack of evidence — his confession to having taken the money notwithstanding — to show that Liu stole NT$2,000 from Chen, it said.
Moreover, it is difficult to be certain that he intended to kill Chen, the previous verdicts said.
The results of psychological assessments and pre-sentence investigations showed that Liu could be rehabilitated, so his sentence was commuted to life in prison and disenfranchisement for life, it said.
The ruling can be appealed.
A 10-year sentence for rape was established in previous rulings.
Chen’s husband, surnamed Chang (張), yesterday said that he would do everything in his power to fight for justice for his wife.
Liu cut the hammer shorter to make it easier to carry, indicating that he did plan to kill someone, Chang said.
Liu ascertained that his wife was alone, followed her and waited for her to get in the vehicle before acting, Chang said.
“Does that not count as planning” to kill her? he asked.
Chang asked why the Kaohsiung court said there was a lack of evidence that Liu stole from his wife.
It asked the family to produce evidence of the exact amount stolen, even though Liu himself admitted to stealing about NT$2,000 during the investigation, Chang said.
Moreover, a Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital report said that there is a high possibility Liu could commit sexual offenses again in 15 years, while Kaohsiung Municipal Kai-Syuan Psychiatric Hospital said that he does not have mental health problems, all of which the court ignored, Chang said.
Liu has three lawyers from the Legal Aid Foundation, while Chang initially only had one from the Association for Victim Support, he said.
Even after hiring a second lawyer, he still has less representation than Liu, he said.
In countries where the death penalty has been abolished, there is often the option of life imprisonment without parole to ensure that perpetrators cannot re-enter society, but in Taiwan, a life sentence comes with the possibility of parole, which not only fails to provide closure for victims and their families, but adds to their fear, he said.
Taiwan is not ready to abolish the death penalty, Chang said.
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