High Court overturns death sentence for Malaysian student's killer

Kaohsiung, Jan. 29 (CNA) The Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch on Thursday resentenced Liang Yu-chih (梁育誌) to life imprisonment for the 2020 rape and murder of a Malaysian university student, overturning a previous death sentence after a court-ordered retrial.

Explaining its decision, the High Court said Liang's original intent was robbery and sexual assault, rather than murder.

The court sentenced Liang to life imprisonment for rape resulting in death and added an eight-year prison term for robbery. It also ordered lifelong deprivation of civil rights.

The ruling reversed three earlier judgments that had imposed capital punishment for the killing. The case may still be appealed.

● Family of murdered Malaysian student criticizes death penalty ruling

According to prosecutors, on Oct. 28, 2020, Liang abducted the Malaysian student, who was enrolled at Chang Jung Christian University in Tainan, while she was walking back to her dormitory.

Prosecutors said Liang strangled her with a rope beneath an elevated railway near the campus and then forced her into a vehicle and sexually assaulted her.

After his victim resisted, Liang killed her before abandoning her body in a mountainous area of Kaohsiung's Alian District, prosecutors said.

While acknowledging that Liang had prepared tools used in the crime, the court said such preparation alone was insufficient to establish premeditated murder under current legal standards.

Although Liang's offenses were "brutal," they did not meet the threshold for "most serious crimes" required for capital punishment under a 2024 Constitutional Court interpretation and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the court said.

Citing psychiatric and correctional evaluations, the court said Liang showed potential for rehabilitation and that long-term imprisonment combined with psychological treatment could reduce the risk of reoffending.

It added that inmates sentenced to life imprisonment must serve at least 25 years and demonstrate genuine remorse before becoming eligible for parole.

In the original trial, the Ciaotou District Court sentenced Liang to death after finding him guilty of multiple offenses, including rape resulting in intentional homicide, robbery causing death, abandoning a corpse, and attempted rape in a separate, unrelated case involving another victim.

Despite the Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch upholding the death sentence on appeal, the Supreme Court vacated the conviction for rape resulting in homicide and ordered a retrial on the rape and murder charges, while finalizing separate sentences of two years and two years and 10 months for abandoning a corpse and attempted rape, respectively.

The Taiwan High Prosecutors Office Kaohsiung Branch said that it will appeal Thursday's ruling.