Taiwan's Supreme Court Orders Retrial in High-Profile Malaysian Student Murder Case

Death Sentence Revoked, New Trial Ordered for Liang Yu-chih Amidst Complex Legal Interpretations

Taipei, Taiwan – In a significant legal development, Taiwan's Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence of Liang Yu-chih (梁育誌), who was convicted of murdering a Malaysian university student in 2020. The court has ordered a retrial, citing deficiencies in the lower court's handling of evidence and legal interpretation.

The Supreme Court found that the Taiwan High Court Kaohsiung Branch's January ruling lacked thorough examination of the evidence and sufficient reasoning. The case remains eligible for further appeal.

This decision comes after the Taiwan Constitutional Court ruled in September 2024 that capital punishment is conditionally constitutional, making this case particularly noteworthy. The crime took place on October 28, 2020, when Liang abducted the victim, a Malaysian student studying in Tainan, near her university.

According to court records, Liang raped, beat, and strangled the victim, taking her belongings before dumping her body in a mountainous area of Kaohsiung's Alian District. The initial ruling held that Liang acted with premeditation, lying in wait with a rope to commit the murder, and the court upheld the death sentence based on the cruelty of the crime and the high risk of reoffending.

However, the Supreme Court argued that the retrial improperly treated the incident as a single offense of rape and murder. It should have been prosecuted as multiple crimes, including robbery, sexual assault, and murder, with separate penalties. The court also questioned Liang's intent, suggesting that he may have initially intended only sexual assault.

Furthermore, the court noted that the trial court failed to consider a prison counselor's assessment that Liang had the potential for rehabilitation, which may have influenced the sentencing.

Liang was initially sentenced to death by the Ciaotou District Court in March 2022. The high court upheld this verdict in March 2023. The Supreme Court ordered a retrial in June 2023 due to flaws in the original ruling regarding the rape and homicide charges.