Man derails train to kill sis-in-law. When that fails... He injects her with snake venom
SHE was injured in a train crash and died later in the hospital.
But what may have seemed like a tragic accident was actually the work of a determined killer who was after a NT$70million ($3.2m) insurance payout.
A panel of Taiwan judges yesterday sentenced Lee Tai-an (right) to life in prison for a series of bizarre crimes that culminated in the murder of his sister-in-law in March last year.
The court ruled that Lee had caused the train to derail in an attempt to kill the Vietnamese woman.
She did not die, so he went to her hospital room and injected her with snake venom to finish the job.
Prosecutors had asked for the death penalty in a case that shocked Taiwan.
Lee was found guilty of murder and sabotage after judges considered the testimony of 95witnesses and medical reports from three hospitals, reported China Post.
The court heard that Lee and his younger brother, Shuang-chuan, a railway worker, caused several train derailments in March last year on the mountainous line between the counties of Taitung and Pingtung.
Lee Shuang-chuan's Vietnamese wife, Chen Shi Hong Sheng, travelled regularly on the line.
On 14 Mar, there were more than 200 passengers aboard the express train heading from Taitung in eastern Taiwan for the southern port city of Kaohsiung when it derailed.
ENGINE DESTROYED
Three carriages tipped over, one slid down a mountain slope, while the train's engine section was completely destroyed.
MadamChen was among three people injured in the crash.
While she was in hospital, the two brothers killed her by injecting snake venom into her blood in an attempt to make it look as though she had died from her injuries, reported AFP.
Judge Pan Cheng-ping quoted doctors and nurses as saying that MadamChen was 'not in a critical condition when she was rushed to the hospital'.
'She died of a poison injection,' noted the judge.
Reports said that insurance payments for MadamChen could have amounted to NT$70m if her death was ruled as accidental.
Madam Chen was Lee Shuang-chuan's third wife.
His second wife, who was also from Vietnam, died of a snake bite five years ago. Her husband's family reportedly received NT$5m in insurance payouts.
Lee Shuang-chuan killed himself six days after Madam Chen's death.
He left a note proclaiming his innocence. At the time of his death, investigators who had initially ruled MadamChen's death as accidental were beginning to relook the case.
Lee Tai-an's wife, MadamWu Chun-fang, has vowed to appeal against the ruling.
After the verdict, the Taiwan Railway Administration announced it would sue the Lee family for NT$46.3m to compensate for the losses it suffered because of the derailment.
It has already applied to the courts to seize the family's assets.
MadamChen's parents told China Post that they were glad to hear of the life sentence, but felt it was not enough.
In Vietnam, Lee would face capital punishment for murder, they said.
Source
BIZARRE MURDER IN TAIWAN 
Linear Mode
