Couple indicted over 3 children’s deaths
Print Edition
A TAIWAN couple have been indicted over the abuse and deaths of three of their children whose bodies were buried in hidden locations.
The father, identified by his family name of Lee, admitted to beating his two sons — aged 7 years and 10 months — before they died, prosecutors said yesterday.
He was charged with causing injury leading to death while the children’s mother was indicted for abandonment leading to death.
Both parents are facing life imprisonment.
The cause of death of their 6-month-old daughter was undetermined. Lee, 37, denied abusing the baby.
He and his partner surnamed Chen, 33, escaped murder charges as Lee claimed he “had no idea” his children would die, said Huang Yi-hua, a spokeswoman for the Yunlin prosecutor’s office.
“Lee said he just wanted to teach the children a lesson when they were crying and screaming,” she added.
The case has sparked an emotional public response on the island, with some calling for the death penalty.
Local media described the couple as “cold-blooded, horrifying parents.”
“Even if they don’t get sentenced to death by a judge, they will go to hell after they die,” read one message left on the comment section of Apple Daily’s website.
“They are animals, they should be shot dead,” another read.
Prosecutors described Lee as unemployed and an alcoholic.
The children died between 2008 and 2013, when the couple were on the run for theft and fraud charges.
They buried their 7-year-old son near a river in central Yunlin County where Lee is from, said prosecutors.
Lee’s father has been indicted for helping to dispose of the boy’s body.
The remains of the 6-month-old girl were buried in the backyard of Lee’s father’s home.
The 10-month-old was buried in northern Taoyuan.
When authorities finally caught up with the fugitive couple last year and arrested them for theft and fraud, they tried to locate the older son and became suspicious when they could not find him.
The couple said that he had been adopted. However, their eldest daughter told police her brother had been beaten to death.
Now aged 12, she is currently in foster care with her two younger siblings.
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