Taiwanese couple charged after three children killed and buried

A TAIWANESE couple have been charged over the abuse and deaths of three of their children, whose bodies they then buried in hidden locations, in a crime that has shocked the island.

The father, identified by his family name Lee, had admitted to beating two sons – aged seven years and 10 months respectively – before they died, prosecutors said yesterday.

He was charged with causing injury leading to death and the mother was indicted for abandonment leading to death, both punishable by life imprisonment.

The cause of death of their six-month-old daughter was undetermined. Lee, 37, denied abusing the baby, prosecutors said.

He and his partner, whose surname is Chen, 33, escaped murder charges as Lee claimed he had had no idea his children would die, Yunlin prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Huang Yi-hua said.

“Lee said he just wanted to teach the children a lesson when they were crying and screaming.”

But the case sparked an emotional public response, 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 on 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 had buried their seven-year-old son near a river in central Yunlin county where Lee is from, prosecutors said.

Lee’s father has been indicted for helping to dispose of the body.

The remains of the six-month-old girl were buried in the back yard 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.

The couple said he had been adopted, but a daughter told police he had been beaten to death.

Now aged 12, she is in foster care with two younger siblings. –