Horror in Taiwan over siblings’ fatal abuse

Couple charged with beating their children to death

TAIPEI: A Taiwanese couple have been indicted 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 surname Lee, admitted to beating two sons – one aged seven and the other 10 months – before they died, prosecutors said yesterday.

He was charged with causing injury leading to death, while his wife was indicted for abandonment leading to death – both punishable by life imprisonment.

The cause of death of their sixmonth-old daughter was undetermined.

Lee, 37, denied abusing the baby, prosecutors said.

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 spokesman 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.

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’ll go to hell after they die,” read one comment on Apple Daily’s website.

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 seven-yearold son near a river in central Yunlin county, said prosecutors.

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

The remains of the six-monthold girl were buried in the backyard of Lee’s father’s home, while the 10-month-old was buried in northern Taoyuan.

When the fugitive couple were arrested last year for theft and fraud, authorities became suspicious when they could not locate the older son.

The couple said he had been adopted, but their eldest daughter told police her brother had been beaten to death.

Now aged 12, she is in foster care with two siblings. — AFP