TAIPEI, Taiwan – The island was left reeling on Monday following the grisly alleged murder of a 4-year-old girl in Taipei by a 33-year-old man – the second of its kind in less than a year.
The alleged random attack occurred in Taipei’s Neihu District’s Huashan Road Section 1 while the toddler and her mother were strolling near Xihu Elementary School. The suspected killer, a 33-year-old man surnamed Wang, approached the girl whose toy bicycle had become stuck. He then began to attack her with brute force which ended in the child’s decapitation.
“I saw the suspect slashing at my daughter with a cleaver. I grabbed at him, but I could not force him away,” the mother of the slain toddler told reporters.
The mother’s cries for help were answered by three nearby auto mechanics who managed to subdue Wang.
According to the police, Wang purchased the cleaver at a general wholesale market at around 8 a.m. then took the MRT to Xihu station. Wang was near Neihu Road Section 1 at around 10 a.m. where he happened on the toddler and her mother and started following them, cleaver in hand.
While in custody, his speech has reportedly been mainly incomprehensible, and has included repeated mumblings about “I’m out to find a girl from Sichuan” (a Chinese province). Wang has stated he did not have any past dealings with the victim. Police stated that Wang has a prior drug-use conviction.
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Posted by 三立新聞 on Monday, March 28, 2016
Wang, still visibly bloodstained from the alleged attack, was met by an emotionally charged crowd (shouting expletives and “kill him!”) while he was being escorted by police from Xihu police station to the Neihu Precinct station for further questioning. The suspect pleaded for mercy after being beaten by members of the crowd. For safety reasons, police took him back into the Xihu station.
President Ma Ying-jeou expressed “shock and sadness” on hearing about the attack, and asked the Cabinet to launch a full investigation “to ensure justice be served.”
Meanwhile a tearful Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Wang Yu-min demanded that the law punish those who murder children twelve years old or younger with either the death penalty or life imprisonment. Her proposal was supported by newly elected KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu, who said that Monday’s murder “could not be forgiven.”
New Power Party Legislator Freddy Lim, a vocal advocate for abolishing the death penalty, used more nuanced language in response to Monday’s attack, stating that, “I have always emphasised that the nation’s penal system needs reform, particularly in terms of protection of children and work for victims’ families. Compared with more progressive nations, Taiwan has a long way to go. At the present time, this issue must be faced earnestly.”
Later, members of the public brought candles, flowers and toys to the site of the killing in memory of the victim.
One man, who placed a bouquet of flowers at the temporary memorial site, stated that the death penalty was needed to prevent such attacks. “I really want to kill him (Wang, the suspect),” he added.
The mother of the victim seemed more sceptical.
“I believe these random acts of violence are committed by people for no reason. And this kind of problem cannot be solved merely by laws or punishment.”
“I hope we can approach the root of the problem: starting from families and education, so that people like this will disappear from our society, so that our children and grandchildren will never be confronted by such people,” she said.
