(Taiwan, 30th) A Malaysian student surnamed Chen, studying at National Taiwan Ocean University, went to a KTV in November the year before last to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Unexpectedly, a conflict broke out with strangers from another room due to a mistaken door entry, and he was fatally attacked by a man surnamed Chen with a folding knife.
According to United Daily News’ report on the 29th, the judge noted that the student’s mother had lived frugally to send her son to Taiwan for his studies, originally full of hope for him to return home with a degree, but her dreams were shattered. A parent having to bury a child, the murderer was ordered to pay funeral expenses and emotional compensation totaling NT$3.18 million (about RM418,000) to the student’s mother.
Last August, the Keelung District Court sentenced Chen to 11 years in prison; the High Court upheld the original sentence last December. The student’s mother filed a civil claim.
The Keelung District Court’s verdict pointed out that the conflict took place at 10 pm on November 14, 2023. The student surnamed Chen and several friends went to Hyatt KTV on Ren 2nd Road for a birthday celebration. The defendant Chen (28) and his friends were also singing in the same KTV, but in separate private rooms, and the two groups did not know each other. As the night wore on to early the next morning, the student’s friends, Zhang and Xu, drunkenly horsed around and inadvertently entered defendant Chen’s private room. Since Zhang repeatedly apologized, there was no conflict at that time.
Unexpectedly, in the early hours of the following morning, after both parties had paid and were waiting for their respective friends downstairs, they encountered each other again at the entrance of Cosmed next door. Once again, a verbal dispute arose over the earlier accidental intrusion. Defendant Chen used a folding knife to stab the student surnamed Chen twice in the leg, severing an artery, resulting in his death despite being rushed to the hospital.
During the trial, the victim’s sister wept via video call, saying that their father had passed away two years ago during the COVID pandemic. Her younger brother had gone to Taiwan to study, and their father had been especially happy as he was the only child in the family to study abroad, hoping for a bright future after graduation. Unexpectedly, such a tragedy occurred before graduation, causing their mother to lose her son after already losing her husband, and delivering a devastating blow.