Last year, a 41-year-old man named Li from Taichung City ran a red light and killed a Siliconware Precision Industries engineer. More than a month later, when Li and a woman were returning to their residence, they were caught by their cohabiting girlfriend named Xie. Xie actually poured the gasoline she had just bought on Li in front of Li’s mother and set him on fire, burning him to death. The case was intensively heard by the National Court of the Taichung District Court. Today (27th), Xie was sentenced to 14 years in prison for murder, which can be appealed.
Xie ran into her cohabiting boyfriend named Li with his mistress returning home, and in a rage, she poured gasoline on him and set him on fire, and was sentenced to 14 years in prison for murder in the first instance. Data photo
Xie ran into her cohabiting boyfriend named Li with his mistress returning home, and in a rage, she poured gasoline on him and set him on fire, burning him to death. She was sentenced to 14 years in prison for murder in the first instance. Data photo
The suspect, a 34-year-old woman surnamed Xie, originally worked as a salesperson in a medical beauty clinic and was studying for a master’s degree. She lived with a man surnamed Li and Li’s mother in Xitun District, Taichung City. At 8:38 am on April 9 last year, Xie drove to a gas station to buy gasoline because her motorcycle ran out of gas. When she returned to her residence, she found that Li and a woman surnamed Lai had returned together. She was jealous and had an argument with Li.
The verdict pointed out that Xie went to the car to take out the gasoline she bought in a 4-liter plastic barrel and splashed it on Li’s body 5 times, causing Li’s body to be covered with a lot of gasoline; Li did not want to argue with her anymore and walked back to his residence along the community basement parking lot. Unexpectedly, Xie went to the car to take out a lighter. Seeing this, Lai hugged Xie. Xie pushed Lai away and tried to enter the residence from the basement entrance. However, she could not enter because the basement entrance was locked. She returned to the car to take out the key to the residence and then entered the residence from the basement along the original route.
At this time, Li and his mother were both in the house. Xie used a lighter to ignite the gasoline on Li’s clothes, causing Li’s whole body to catch fire instantly. The fire then spread to the furniture and other items in the house. Li’s mother quickly put out the fire on her son. Lai, who was outside the house, saw the fire in the house and immediately notified the firefighters and paramedics to the scene. Li was sent to the hospital for treatment, but Li still suffered second- to third-degree burns and respiratory inhalation burns, which led to complications of pneumonia edema and alveolar damage in both lungs. He died of his injuries four days later.
Xie admitted the crime. The defense lawyer asked the judge to reduce her sentence according to the provisions of the Criminal Law, saying that Xie suffered from mental illness and committed the crime because of long-term drug use and anger due to emotional disputes.
However, based on the contents of the mental evaluation report and the testimony of the evaluation witnesses, the National Court recognized that although Ms. Xie had a mental illness, her ability to recognize that her behavior was illegal was not affected when she acted in this case, and her ability to control her behavior was not significantly reduced due to long-term drug use, so the provisions of the Criminal Law to reduce her sentence were not applicable.
The National Court considered that Ms. Xie and the victim were cohabiting boyfriend and girlfriend, and had a family relationship under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act. They should have taken care of each other, but she quarreled over an emotional dispute and poured gasoline on the victim. After the victim left because he did not want to argue anymore, she still entered the house and set fire to the victim’s mother. The means were cruel. The first instance sentenced him to 14 years in prison for murder. Appeal is allowed.
