2015.11.10
Women at risk of domestic violence urged to seek help
DISTURBING TREND:Recent domestic abuse cases include a woman stabbed and fed pesticide, and a woman being facially mutilated by an 80-year-old man
By Jason Pan / Staff reporter
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2015/11/04/2003631663
who fear they might be at risk of these types of crimes to seek help from friends or relatives, or to contact a women’s welfare organization that might be able to offer them shelter.
On Monday in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), a man surnamed Lee (李) , 45, allegedly killed his 41-year-old wife with a kitchen knife,following an argument.
Their 11-year-old daughter called the emergency services when she returned from school to find her parents bleeding from injuries. Police officers and medics arrived to find the mother already dead.
Lee was treated for minor cuts and released from hospital the same day.
An investigation found that the woman had died from multiple stab wounds, a police report said.
Investigators yesterday said they planned to charge Lee with his wife’s murder
In a case in New Taipei City, a man surnamed Chien (簡), 55, is accused of murdering his 34-year-old Vietnamese wife, surnamed Nguyen.
Following an argument on Monday, Chien is said to have stabbed Nguyen in the abdomen and left thigh with a kitchen knife, then forced liquid pesticide into her mouth and waited for her to die.
Investigators said Chien then told her 14-year-old daughter: “I have killed your mother” and instructed her to call the police.
In his statement to the police, Chien accused his wife of accruing a large gambling debt, and claimed he lost control when she demanded that he sell their house to pay off the debts.
In both cases a wife had suffered from domestic violence following an argument, experts said, calling on women who are at risk to seek mediation and help from women’s welfare organizations, who might also be able to provide temporary shelter.
Experts also urged social workers to give the young people involved counseling, as their psychological trauma would be extreme.
In another case of a brutal attack on a woman, the Taiwan High Court on Monday upheld a lower court ruling handing an eight-year prison term to a 80-year-old man surnamed Huang (黃) for using a fruit knife to mutilate a 48-year-old woman surnamed Chu (祝) last year.
Huang, who was allegedly in a relationship with Chu, had accused the woman of having an affair with a younger man, so he tied her up, then cut off her nose, ears and lips, in October last year.
The High Court decision cited the heinous nature of the crime in upholding the sentence, but at the trial Chu petitioned for a lighter sentence on his behalf, saying that she has forgiven Huang, they have reached a settlement, he is elderly and she does not want him to suffer.
Media reports said Chu has been undergoing plastic surgery since last year, and cited her as saying that she just wants to forget the past and get on with her life.
Source: Taipei Timeshttp://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2015/11/04/2003631663
