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PETALING JAYA: Prosecutors in Taiwan have urged a court in that country to impose the death penalty on a man accused of kidnapping and killing a Malaysian university student in October.
The man, surnamed Liang, 28, has been charged with sexual assault and murder.
It is alleged that he abducted 24-year-old Irene Chung as she was returning to her dorm at Chang Jung Christian University on October 28.
Liang was arrested the next day and police said he confessed to strangling Chung with a rope and dumping his body in neighboring Kaohsiung.
According to the Taiwan Central News Agency, Ciaotou District Chief Prosecutor Wang Po-tun said at a press conference that Liang did not show any remorse.
Instead, he said, Liang asked about the severity of the punishment he would face and whether he would be extradited to Malaysia.
Liang, according to the report, had a criminal record dating back to high school.
Wang told reporters that a psychiatric evaluation of Liang found him mentally competent and that he posed a high risk of recidivism, according to the Taiwan CNA report.
Wang said that due to the brutal nature of the crime, his office had applied to the Ciaotou District Court to sentence Liang to death.
Prosecutors said that on September 30, Liang had attacked another woman near the same location in Tainan’s Gueiren district, but that she fled when she defended herself and called for help.
After that incident, Liang searched the Internet for tutorials on how to tie an executioner’s knot and attached a rope to his car for future use, according to the report.
On the night of October 28, he returned to the area around the university and was sitting in his car when he saw Chung at around 8:50 p.m.
Prosecutors said Liang strangled Chung with a rope and sexually assaulted her before placing her in the back seat of his car. Then he took his phone and the ICash card with which he is believed to have bought sandwiches and snacks.
The following afternoon, when he discovered that she was dead, Liang dumped Chung’s body on Dagang Mountain in Kaohsiung’s mountainous Alian district, according to the charge sheet. He was arrested that same night.
Chung’s parents flew to Taiwan on October 30 to bring her remains and buried her at Nirvana Memorial Park in Sibu on November 21.
Her family has said they will file a civil lawsuit against Chang Jung Christian University, the Taiwan City Council and the Taiwanese government for alleged negligence that led to her death.
