TAIPEI: Taiwanese prosecutors said they were seeking the death penalty for a man accused of killing four people and wounding others in a stabbing spree on the Taipei subway that shocked the island.
Cheng Chieh, a 21-year-old college student, was charged with four accounts of murder and 22 accounts of attempted murder for the fatal attack on May 21, the first of its kind on the city’s subway system.
“The accused’s actions fit the definition of mass murders; his means were ruthless and inhuman, and caused irreparable harm to the victims and their families. We demand the court sentence him to death,” prosecutors said in a statement.
The incident shocked Taiwan, otherwise proud of its low levels of violent crime, and resulted in several minor injuries as edgy commuters fled trains over false alarms in the following week. AFP
