Death penalty upheld for Taiwan woman who murdered family
CNA 2013-06-14 12:58
Lin Yu-ju is escorted from the court during her first trial in Nantou county, May 20, 2011. (Photo/Liao Chao-hsiang)
Taiwan's Supreme Court on Thursday handed down the death penalty to a 32-year-old Taiwanese woman who murdered three of her family members for insurance payouts, making her the first woman to be sentenced to death in Taiwan in 23 years.
Lin Yu-ju has been convicted of murdering her mother, mother-in-law and husband in eight months to collect money on insurance benefits to pay her gambling debts.
A total of four female offenders, including Lin, have been sentenced to death in Taiwan since 1981, and her sentence brings the total number of inmates on death row to 51. Lin was the second offender sentenced to death this year, according to the Supreme Court.
An operator of a food retail business, Lin had a gambling addiction and murdered her mother in November 2008, and then her mother-in-law and husband in 2009 to collect on insurance claims worth NT$21 million (US$702,600) in total to pay her debts and support her habit.
According to the court, Lin admitted pushing her mother down the stairs and poisoning her husband and mother-in-law.
Lin, who was arrested in December 2009, was convicted and sentenced to death by the High Court last year, although her lawyer argued that she has a low intelligence quotient and was suffering from depression. The Supreme Court, however, rejected her appeal and upheld the ruling.
