High court upholds death penalty for Malaysian student's killer

Kaohsiung, March 23 (CNA) The Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch Court has upheld the death sentence of a man who raped and murdered a Malaysian student of Chang Jung Christian University in Tainan in October 2020.

Speaking with reporters after the court issued its ruling Thursday, Chiu Ming-hung (邱明弘), chief judge of the hearing, said that the court had upheld Liang Yu-chih's (梁育誌) sentence due to his lack of remorse or empathy for his 24-year-old victim, surnamed Chung (鍾), as well as his high risk of recidivism.

The ruling can be appealed.

On Oct. 28, 2020, Liang abducted Chung while she was walking by herself along a railway overpass near her school around 8 p.m., according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said that Liang then raped and strangled the Malaysian student with a length of rope before dumping her body in the mountainous Alian District in neighboring Kaohsiung City.

After receiving a missing persons report from Chung's university, police traced Liang as a suspect using CCTV and arrested him in Kaohsiung on Oct. 29, 2020.

Liang, who confessed to the murder following his arrest, was sentenced to death by a district court on March 18, 2022.

According to the police, Liang had attempted to rape another person prior to murdering Chung.

The murder drew significant media attention in Malaysia, given that Chung came from a prominent local family in Sarawak.

Before the death penalty ruling from the lower court, Chung's parents had asked for "life for life" as the best justice for the victim.

In response to Thursday's ruling, Chung's mother said in a social media post that justice had been served.

According to Malaysia's news media, Chung studied at Sibu Methodist Pilley Institute (MPI) from 2014 to 2017 on a three-year diploma course before transferring to Chang Jung Christian University for a three-year business management degree program.

The two schools have a sisterhood agreement in which students, upon finishing their courses at MPI, are transferred to Chang Jung Christian University for further study, the reports said.