Focus Taiwan
Date: 04/30/2020
By: Chiang I-ching, Liu Chien-pang, Wang Cheng-chung and Ko Lin

Chiayi, April 30 (CNA) A passenger who fatally stabbed a railway police officer in Chiayi City last July was ruled innocent of murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility on Thursday, but was ordered to be detained in a secure facility, where he must undergo mental health treatment for five years.

The 54-year-old passenger, surnamed Cheng (鄭), had been detained on homicide charges after he stabbed 24-year-old railway police officer Lee Cheng-han (李承翰) on a train from Tainan to Taipei on July 3, when he was found to lack a valid ticket.

Lee died in hospital the following day.

On Thursday, judges at the Chiayi District Court described Cheng's long history of schizophrenia as the reason for their ruling, citing Article 19, Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code that lists mental illness as possible grounds for a commuted sentence.    [FULL  STORY]