People should call the 24-hour 1995 hotline if they have suicidal thoughts, police said following two cases involving suicide last month.
On July 11, a couple was found dead at a hotel in Taoyuan in what investigators said were suicides using poison.
That case followed one a day earlier in which a man in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) allegedly stabbed his wife to death before driving to Yangmingshan National Park, where he allegedly strangled his baby son before committing suicide.
Photo: Screen grab from Taiwan Lifeline International’s Facebook page
Police and social workers said that the 24-hour toll-free 1995 Hotline-for-Life should be used if people are experiencing emotional or psychological stress, are unable to cope with problems or are contemplating taking their life.
Alternatively, they can use the “1925” hotline, which is run by health agencies, they said.
Both numbers have counselors who offer support to callers to help them deal with personal problems, they said.
Police said that there was no sign of foul play in the room where the couple’s bodies were found in the poisoning case in Taoyuan’s Pingjhen District (平鎮).
A half-finished soft drink was found, which investigators said might have been laced with a deadly chemical.
The couple’s two young children, who were in the room, told police that their parents said: “We are very sorry,” before drinking the beverage.
They did not wake up, the children told investigators.
Friends of the couple told police that the husband, surnamed Chou (周), 46, and the wife, surnamed Tai (戴), 42, had intermittent work in Hsinchu City, but had incurred debt of NT$1 million (US$30,592).
The couple had moved to the hotel in Taoyuan in May, where the proprietor offered a room in exchange for cleaning and other work at the establishment, investigators said.
Following the deaths of the parents, Taoyuan social workers have helped the children, ensuring they are attending school and are being taken care of by relatives.
Financial stress likely led to the suicide, friends and relatives told police.
In the Sanchong case, police responded to a call on the night of July 9 and found the wife, surnamed Liu (劉), 43, dead in a bathroom at her home with seven knife wounds.
Officers searched the area and asked neighbors about the husband, Liao Hsuan-yung (廖軒詠), 42, who had been seen taking the couple’s nine-month old away in a car.
Police located the vehicle near a bridge underpass in a mountainous area of Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) and the bodies of Liao and the child.
Investigators said that Liao apparently strangled the infant then killed himself by hanging.
The couple had been getting financial support from their families, as both had lost their jobs at companies in Taipei’s Nangang Software Park, investigators said.
However, family members and friends said that the murder-suicide arose from an argument over Liao’s previous marriage.
Liao’s former wife had contacted him and wanted to patch things up, they said, adding that Liu had discovered the two were communicating on social media.
The investigation continues.
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