Supreme Court upholds life sentence for man convicted of murder

Taipei, Oct. 4 (CNA) Taiwan's Supreme Court on Friday upheld the life sentence given to a man found guilty of robbing and killing a retired female teacher in the southern city of Kaohsiung nearly a decade ago.

The Supreme Court's decision found that the ruling of the Kaohsiung Branch of the Taiwan High Court against the individual, surnamed Liu (劉), was not flawed, and upheld its findings.

The verdict, which came after a fourth retrial, was final and cannot be appealed, it said.

Liu was accused of robbing and killing the woman near Haluo market in Kaohsiung's Zuoying District on Dec. 3, 2014.

According to court documents, Liu was riding a scooter looking for his ex-girlfriend that day, while carrying a hammer and planned to threaten her if she refused to get back together. He was however unable to find her.

Later the same day he saw a woman, who had just finished grocery shopping at Haluo market and was getting in her car. He proceeded to attack the woman with the hammer in an attempt to steal her vehicle. The strike caused the woman to fall into the passenger seat, according to court documents.

When the victim appeared to be regaining consciousness after the initial attack, Liu struck her on the head another 13 times, the documents indicated.

However, he was unable to drive the car away as the steering wheel was locked and so he took NT$2,000 (US$62.27) from her purse and raped her before leaving, according to the court findings.

The retired teacher was later pronounced dead by a hospital due to excessive blood loss.

Liu received the death sentence for robbing and killing the woman in all four previous verdicts.

However, after several appeals and the Supreme Court sending the case back to the High Court’s Kaohsiung branch four separate times, the latter in May this year ruled that the woman Liu robbed and killed was a random target.

The branch court ruled that Liu did not plan to rob and kill the woman and therefore the crime does not fit the category of "most serious crimes" listed in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The death penalty can only be implemented under such circumstances.

In addition, the Supreme Court ruled that there is lack of evidence proving Liu stole NT$2,000 from the victim, despite the fact he confessed to doing so, and it is difficult to ascertain with certainty that he intended to kill the victim when he attacked her with the hammer.

Furthermore, the branch court said that results of psychological assessments and pre-sentence investigations showed that Liu is still civilizable, therefore his death penalty was commuted to a life sentence.

An appeal was again filed, but the Supreme Court on Friday said the reasons cited by prosecutors for capital punishment could not be justified.

Meanwhile, Liu's sentence of 10 years for rape has already been affirmed in previous separate rulings.