Taiwanese man executed for killing ex-wife and daughter in island’s first capital punishment for two years
Taipei resumed capital punishment in 2010 after a five-year break, with the death penalty reserved for the most serious crimes
Taiwan executed a death-row inmate on Friday, the first execution carried out under President Tsai Ing-wen’s government, despite ongoing calls from rights groups to abolish the death penalty.
Lee Hung-chi was executed at a jail in southern Kaohsiung city by firing squad, according to the justice ministry, for killing his ex-wife and five-year-old daughter in 2014.
Lee stabbed his former spouse to death outside the kindergarten their two daughters attended and then took one of the girls to his car, where he tried to kill both her and himself by carbon monoxide poisoning.
Lee survived after they were rescued but the girl died two months later despite treatment.
“His actions were brutal and ruthless … and inflicted irreparable harms to the victims’ families,” deputy justice minister Chen Ming-tang told reporters.
The court had ruled there was no likelihood of Lee reforming, he added.