FEATURED POST

California | San Quentin begins prison reform - but not for those on death row

Image
California is transferring everyone on death row at San Quentin prison to other places, as it tries to reinvent the state's most notorious facility as a rehabilitation centre. Many in this group will now have new freedoms. But they are also asking why they've been excluded from the reform - and whether they'll be safe in new prisons. Keith Doolin still remembers the day in 2019 when workers came to dismantle one of the United States' most infamous death chambers.

Taiwan man who beheaded little girl escapes death penalty, sentenced to life in prison

Wang Ching-yu
Wang Ching-yu
A man who beheaded a 4-year-old girl on the street in a gruesome knife attack in Taipei last year escaped the death penalty on Friday, being sentenced by a district court to life in prison.

While prosecutors at the Shilin District Prosecutors Office had sought the death penalty for 34-year-old Wang Ching-yu, the judges ruled that since Wang had been found to be suffering from schizophrenia, he could not be executed, citing international human rights conventions. 

However, the man's insanity defense did not save him from life imprisonment with the court determining that he he had been "cognitively normal" at the time of the attack. The decision can still be appealed.

Last year in court, Wang had said that he had believed himself to be a Chinese emperor from Sichuan and thought that by killing the little girl he would be granted concubines to carry on his ancestral line. 
During his trial, he got down on his knees to ask forgiveness from the victim's mother.

The horrific attack occurred last March on a Monday morning in Taipei's Neihu District. 

Wang approached the 4-year-old girl nicknamed "Little Light Bulb" from behind with a cleaver while she was riding her mini-scooter in the street just a few feet away from her mother and grandfather. 

Before they could stop him, Wang severed the little girl's head on the street in broad daylight.

Little Light Bulb's killing shocked Taiwan and reignited debate on the island over capital punishment with many calling for Wang's execution. 

At a press conference, the girl's mother, Claire Wang, stepped forward to call on groups not to use her daughter's death to advance their own agendas, arguing that she didn't believe that any kind of regulation like the death penalty could stop these kind of random attacks from occurring. 

Instead, she said that she hoped they could be eliminated through better family and school education.

The mother was not in court to hear the verdict against her daughter's killer. 

Little Light Bulb's family has also not issued a statement about the decision.

Source: Shangaiist, Alex Linder, May 15, 2017

⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.


Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

‘A Short Film About Killing’: The movie that brought an end to the Polish death penalty

California | San Quentin begins prison reform - but not for those on death row

Bali | British grandmother on death row for more than 10 years for drug smuggling given ‘one final hope of escape'

Congo reinstates death penalty after 20-year hiatus

Georgia Court Case Tests the Limits of Execution Secrecy in the United States

Georgia | Death penalty trial for accused Atlanta spa shooter in limbo

Alabama | Judge formally imposes death penalty on man who gunned down Mobile cop

Malaysia | Death sentence commuted for ex-cop who killed toddler, babysitter

Iran | Man executed in Qazvin