Filipino worker in Taoyuan indicted for killing, dismembering girlfriend

Taoyuan, Sept. 7 (CNA) A Filipino migrant worker has been indicted over the murder and dismemberment of his compatriot girlfriend in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan, in July last year.

The Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office recently concluded its investigation and charged Velasco Mark Dave with murder under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act and the Criminal Code.

According to the indictment, the 30-year-old man had been in a relationship with his girlfriend, a fellow Filipino migrant worker named Red Michelle Selda, for two years.

The indictment said that on the afternoon of July 17, 2023, the man pinned his girlfriend down on the bed in their shared apartment in Taoyuan's Zhongli District, following an argument.

He then strangled her until she became immobile, and then stabbed her multiple times in the abdomen, chest and neck with a screwdriver, prosecutors said.

The injuries were severe, with her body sustaining multiple wounds, her right leg and foot severed, and only the tibia remaining intact. The stab wounds penetrated her left upper lung and pierced her left ventricle, leading to massive bleeding and her death.

Prosecutors alleged that the man used a meat cleaver to cut her internal organs and flesh into small pieces, which he flushed down the toilet to destroy the evidence.

He washed the remains with bleach and placed some bones and bloodstained clothing into bags, which he discarded in a company dormitory trash bin in Bade District, prosecutors said.

He then returned to their apartment to clean the scene and stole her wallet and phone, the indictment said.

The case came to light when Red Michelle's employer and intermediary visited her apartment after she failed to report to work, discovering her dismembered body.

The Zhongli Precinct of the Taoyuan Police Department subsequently investigated and arrested the man. Taoyuan prosecutors later charged him with murder under domestic violence laws and with destruction of a corpse.