Man receives life imprisonment for suffocating 5-year-old son to death

Taipei, April 17 (CNA) A man was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday after a court found him guilty of suffocating his five-year-old son to death while the child slept in May last year.

The defendant, surnamed Chien (簡), was handed a life sentence and stripped of his civil rights for life, according to Presiding Judge Liu Kuei-king (劉桂金). The ruling can be appealed.

In reaching the verdict, the six citizen judges and three professional judges considered the long-term stress Chien faced due to financial instability and frequent altercations with his wife, and weighed that against the gravity of the crime and his potential for rehabilitation, Liu said.

Chien's wife, surnamed Chang (張), and her brother asked the court to sentence Chien to death, Liu noted.

According to the court, Chien and Chang separated in April last year and agreed that Chang would take primary care of their son, though the boy sometimes spent time with his father in Keelung with Chang's consent.

It was during one of these stays in May 2025 that Chien suffocated the five-year-old to death with a pillow while he slept, according to the court.

Chien admitted to harboring hatred toward Chang, who was seeking a divorce, and was motivated to kill their son because she was going to take him away, Liu added.

During the proceedings, Chien claimed to have been drinking during the incident, but the court noted that he provided coherent answers during police questioning, proving he was not significantly impaired, Liu said.