The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by an Indonesian migrant worker found guilty of abusing and causing the death of an infant, upholding the 12-year jail sentence handed down by a lower court.
The woman, identified by court documents as Fatimah, was found to have abused the one-year-old boy in February last year.
The infant was placed in Fatimah’s care by the child’s mother, who is reportedly her friend and also from Indonesia.
Photo: Chang Wen-chuan, Taipei Times
While in Fatimah’s care, the infant was struck repeatedly by hand and with a plastic bat, court documents said.
There were also indications that the child had been violently shaken, which together with his other injuries resulted in multiple hemorrhages and bone fractures prior to death, the documents said.
When the infant fell into a coma on Feb. 7 last year, Fatimah did not take the child to seek medical attention until that evening after her boyfriend returned home and found something was wrong with the infant, the documents said.
The boy displayed no vital signs when examined at a hospital.
During questioning following the death of the child on Feb. 23, last year, Fatimah said the boy’s injuries came from falling in the bathroom and traditional Indonesian acupressure therapy which she applied after the fall, the documents said.
In the first trial, the Taichung District Court found Fatimah guilty.
The district court said that Fatimah displayed a poor attitude throughout the case, and her failure to seek reconciliation or suggest payment of compensation to the child’s family was also taken into consideration when deciding her sentence.
She was handed a 12-and-a-half-year jail sentence to be followed by deportation.
After an appeal, the High Court branch in Taichung reduced Fatimah’s jail sentence to 12 years after taking into consideration the fact she pleaded guilty during the trial and had no other criminal record in Taiwan.
Fatimah appealed a second time following the High Court decision, which was rejected by the Supreme Court on Thursday and cannot be appealed.
She would be deported after serving her sentence.
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