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13 suspects in Xinyi police officer slaying make bail
Taiwan News, Staff Writer
2015-01-08 02:04 PM
Central News Agency
17 suspects were brought to the Taipei District Court Wednesday afternoon for a hearing in the slaying of a Xinyi District police officer September 14. 13 of the 17 including Cheng Wei-hao and his girlfriend Liu Hsin-tung were granted bail in the case while four others including Hsiao Jui-hung were denied bail and ordered held incommunicado awaiting trial.
As anxious family members and associates waited outside, a panel of judges ruled on the requests for bail, letting 13 suspects out on bails ranging from NT$300,00 up to NT$5 million for Cheng, whose. Australian passport was retained by the court
Responsibility for the 13 released on bail was given over to their parents, and they were also subjected to several restrictions. They must live in their family residences, they are not allowed to travel freely or leave the country, they must stay at home between the hours of 22:00 and 6:00, and they are forbidden to go to nightclubs, hotels and other entertainment venues. In addition, they must report to the bailiff at Taipei District Court every Saturday at 9:00am.
The judges also instructed the suspects to write essays on 20 different topics related to the beating death of Xinyi police officer Hsueh Kuo-chen. The subjects for the essays included "Was I wrong?”, “What is loyalty?” and “Is it so hard to be a good person?” The deadline for the writing assignment is February 10, meaning the 13 will all have to write at a rate of about two essays every three days.
Presiding judge Yang Tai-ching explained that the 20-question assignment will be used to help determine the attitude of each of the suspects following the incident as well as one measure of punishment for the violence involved. Yang said the essays would be 200 to 300 characters in length and would be judged on the individual merit of each answer. Yang provided 60 notebooks at his own expense for the defendants to use. He added that the four suspects who were denied bail will also be required to write the essays.
Hsueh’s wife Huang Chia-feng found the court’s rulings unacceptable and after the hearing her lawyer Chou Wu-jung issued a statement lambasting the court for its ‘irresponsible’ action in granting bail to suspects in the case.
"This was not an ordinary murder,” said Chou, “it was the killing of a police officer in an act of violence by privileged members of society." Chou said it will be difficult to prevent the suspects from fleeing and said the decisions will definitely be appealed.
Three judges on the court panel visited the scene of the incident the night of November 26 to understand better the environment and what transpired that evening. They used a video projector to indicate the relative positions of principals involved in the violence while reviewing transcripts of testimony given by witnesses in the case.
