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Agence France-Presse

A Taiwanese man who decapitated a three-year-old girl in public on a busy Taipei street escaped the death penalty on Friday as he was sentenced to life in prison.
Wang Ching-yu, 34, had pleaded guilty to killing the child in a crime that shocked the generally peaceful island after overpowering her mother near a metro station.
He beheaded the girl with a kitchen knife as horrified bystanders tried to stop him.
Prosecutors had called the crime “extremely cold-blooded” and called for the death penalty.
But judge Tsai Shou-hsun told a Taipei district court on Friday that he would instead be jailed for life as he had a “mental handicap”.
Beheading of girl, 4, in Taiwan prompts calls for greater use of death penalty
Wearing black-framed glasses, a white T-shirt and track pants, his head shaved, Wang remained calm as he listened to the verdict, responding: “I understand”.
The victim’s family were not in court.
Taiwan resumed capital punishment in 2010 after a five-year hiatus. Executions are reserved for serious crimes such as aggravated murder.
Some politicians and rights groups have called for its abolition, but various opinion surveys show majority support for the death penalty.
After the decapitation in March last year, hundreds of Taiwanese, many dressed in black and wearing stickers reading “The death penalty is necessary”, called for Wang to be executed.
The killing came less than a year after the throat of an eight-year-old girl was slit in her school toilets in Taipei. It sparked widespread public anger and fresh debate about capital punishment.
Prosecutors in Wang’s case said during court hearings that he should be put to death as a psychiatric report had found him to be mentally sound enough to be responsible for his actions.
But his defence had argued that Wang suffered from a mental disorder, so should be given a limited-term imprisonment or sent for treatment, local media said.
Taiwanese girl, 12, sliced across throat in latest brutal attack against children to rock island
Wang had told the court that he hallucinated he was a Chinese emperor from Sichuan province and believed that killing the girl would bring him concubines to “carry on his family line”, according to reports.
Wang was arrested at the scene of the crime.
Police said he had previously been arrested for drug-related crimes. He was attacked by an angry mob while in custody.
Prosecutors said blood tests showed he was not under the influence of drugs at the time of the crime.


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Taiwan

Man who beheaded girl, 3, in Taiwan escapes death penalty

Wang Ching-yu pictured last year after the attack. Photo: Handout

epa05234303 A Taiwanese (L, partially obscured) offers flowers for a four-year-old child victim of a random killing, at a makeshift memorial at a street next to the crime scene, in Taipei, Taiwan, 29 March 2016. The brutal beheading of a child on a sidewalk next to her mother in broad daylight on 28 March has reinforced the fight in favor of capital punishment in Taiwan and weakened the movement advocating the abolition of death penalty on the island. An amendment was also presented favoring automatic death sentences for such offences, and protests in favor of harsher punishment have led those opposing capital punishment to avoid a clear defense of their position, which never really enjoyed popular support. EPA/RITCHIE B. TONGO EPA/RITCHIE B. TONGO

News

China

People & Culture

Killing shocked the island last year, but Wang Ching-yu given life sentence after judge rules that he has a mental handicap
