Prosecutors seek life term for man indicted in repeat mass stabbing

Taipei, Nov. 11 (CNA) Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence for a man surnamed Chiu (邱), accused of stabbing three people, including two elementary school girls, in Miaoli City last month, only six months after his release from prison for an attempted murder conviction related to a 2015 multiple stabbing.

Chiu, 48, has been charged under the Child and Juvenile Welfare and Rights Protection Act and the Criminal Code, including two counts of attempted murder of children, one count of attempted murder, and public endangerment, the Miaoli District Prosecutors Office said in a news release on Tuesday.

He was arrested after the stabbings, which occurred on Oct. 2, and placed in detention with court approval.

According to prosecutors, Chiu used methamphetamine that morning. He then taped a 30-centimeter knife to his left hand and rode a scooter in the afternoon in search of victims in Miaoli City.

Prosecutors said he first attacked a girl surnamed Hsu (徐) on Sheliao Street, stabbing toward her neck and chest and causing lacerations to her chest and right elbow.

She fled toward a convenience store on Zhongzheng Road, where Chiu followed and stabbed a man surnamed Lin (林) at the entrance.

Chiu then seized a girl surnamed Ting (丁) and stabbed toward her chest before fleeing when a female teacher surnamed Huang (黃) pulled the child away, prosecutors said.

According to prosecutors, Lin sustained an 8-centimeter chest wound that penetrated 10 centimeters deep, along with diaphragm and liver lacerations and a second deep wound to his lower back.

Ting suffered a 3-centimeter chest laceration and a large left-side hemothorax, an accumulation of blood between the lung and the chest wall.

All three victims survived after receiving emergency treatment.

The office said Chiu apparently targeted strangers in unprovoked attacks.