The train derailment case

Politics Taiwan Politics
#1

The China Post Website now has a story on the suicide of a major suspect in the train derailment case.

Here is the Taiwan news version.

Still waiting for the Taipei Times version.

This is one heck of a weird case. There seems to be some serious circumstantial evidence against the suspect, however it also seems to be iimpossible for him to have done the latest case of sabotage with his own hand.

[quote]Many argued that it was impossible for Lee to tamper with the tracks as he lived in Taitung and the accident occurred in Pingtung. A round trip between the two locations would have taken approximately five hours.

On the night of the accident, the police said, the act of sabotage must have taken place during the 76-minute period between the safe passing of the previous train and one that derailed.

In addition, if Lee had planned the accident, he would have had to make precise calculations to ascertain the exact moment of the train’s passing and to ensure that the carriage in which he was seated would not be affected, said one sympathizer.[/quote]

One thing not mentioned in these English reports but was on the TV reports is that he was wearing a lot of red when he killed himself (that’s what my gf told me). This, by Chinese tradition, declares his intention to remain in this world as a revenge seeking ghost.

I also think this case demonstrates clearly Taiwan’s questionable treatment of suspects in criminal cases. It has always seemed to me that the justice system in Taiwan is hampered by the foolish practice of telling the media too many details of cases still under investigation, and allowing the media to treat suspects however they like in their reporting. It is commonplace for the media and public to convict people long before their court date. Why doesn’t Taiwan handle this problem like a developed country, banning incriminating reports until a conviction or acquittal is reached?

#2

I agree. Why can’t they say, “We have a suspect and we are investigating the case”? Why say, Mr Chen over there is the guy we’re looking at. Two of his foreign born wives have been killed AND he’s an “expert” on train tracks.

It’s a mucking fess.

#3

He was INVOLVED. WHile the Taipei Times and China Post don’t give us the details today, due to their early deadlines maybe, the Taiwan News, which goes to bed around like 4 a.m., tell us that:

Mr Lee in his suicide confession note blamed another man as being the real perpetrator of the accident and blamed that man for trying to push the BLAME on Lee. But was definitely involved. He killed himself because was guilty. It will come out in the papers tomorrow. Read the Taiwan News again, it has the quote in that article.

Those tears by his friends and union officials, although sincere, were crocodile tears. Lee was majorly involved. It’s a sad story all around.

See? He accused someone else of letting him take the RAP.

MONEY QUOTE: According to APPLE DAILY newspaper report, Lee in his letters accused the “real perpetrator*” of “letting him take the rap.”

RED FOR REVENGE GHOST: When a fruit grower discovered Lee’s body around six o’clock yesterday morning, Lee was dressed in a red T-shirt. According to local folklore, by wearing red at the time of suicide, the innocent will gain the power to come back as a vindictive ghost to seek revenge on his or her offenders.

#4

[quote=“dearpeter”]There seems to be some serious circumstantial evidence against the suspect, however it also seems to be iimpossible for him to have done the latest case of sabotage with his own hand.

[/quote]

He didn’t DO it with his OWN hand, dearpeter. He DID it, planned it, in cooperation with one or two others, or a team. He lost NT$33 million in the stock market from 2000-2004. He was a bad man. Watch the story unfold later today and in tomorrow’s English newspapers.

#5

Everywhere you look in Taiwan, prosecutors are conspiring against the people. First it was this 319 stuff. Now they’re out after ordinary citizens. This is just more proof that the DPP government is corrupt trough and through. Nothing like this ever used to happen when the KMT were in power.

#6

No, you’re wrong. It was the CCP, no actually, in fact it was an illegal Chinese immigrant kindergarten English teacher who derailed the train. We must be vigilant against these Fifth Columnists and take steps wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

#7

flood
gates
open

#8

[quote=“Cola”][quote=“dearpeter”]There seems to be some serious circumstantial evidence against the suspect, however it also seems to be iimpossible for him to have done the latest case of sabotage with his own hand.

[/quote]

He didn’t DO it with his OWN hand, dearpeter. He DID it, planned it, in cooperation with one or two others, or a team. He lost NT$33 million in the stock market from 2000-2004. He was a bad man. Watch the story unfold later today and in tomorrow’s English newspapers.[/quote]

Watch the story unfold on FTV News tonight at 10:50pm. In particular, watch the chief prosecutor apologise for getting his sums wrong on the stock transactions. Li didn’t lose money on the stock market.

#9

[quote=“Beachside Queenslander”][quote=“Cola”][quote=“dearpeter”]There seems to be some serious circumstantial evidence against the suspect, however it also seems to be iimpossible for him to have done the latest case of sabotage with his own hand.

[/quote]

He didn’t DO it with his OWN hand, dearpeter. He DID it, planned it, in cooperation with one or two others, or a team. He lost NT$33 million in the stock market from 2000-2004. He was a bad man. Watch the story unfold later today and in tomorrow’s English newspapers.[/quote]

Watch the story unfold on FTV News tonight at 10:50pm. In particular, watch the chief prosecutor apologise for getting his sums wrong on the stock transactions. Li didn’t lose money on the stock market.[/quote]

Okay, watching. [And ready to eat crow if wrong reading of Taiwan News quote from Apple Daily…]

#10

[quote=“Cola”][quote=“Beachside Queenslander”][quote=“Cola”][quote=“dearpeter”]There seems to be some serious circumstantial evidence against the suspect, however it also seems to be iimpossible for him to have done the latest case of sabotage with his own hand.

[/quote]

He didn’t DO it with his OWN hand, dearpeter. He DID it, planned it, in cooperation with one or two others, or a team. He lost NT$33 million in the stock market from 2000-2004. He was a bad man. Watch the story unfold later today and in tomorrow’s English newspapers.[/quote]

Watch the story unfold on FTV News tonight at 10:50pm. In particular, watch the chief prosecutor apologise for getting his sums wrong on the stock transactions. Li didn’t lose money on the stock market.[/quote]

Okay, watching. [And ready to eat crow if wrong reading of Taiwan News quote from Apple Daily…][/quote]

You got to get a sense of humir. I thought he was joking. Or is it me who has to know when people aren’t joking?

#11

Sorry, perhaps I should have said a little more so that my meaning would not be confused.

At the time I wrote my last post I had just finished translating a news story where the chief prosecutor investigating the case admitted that because their original information was less than complete and because there was a miscalculation it was found that Lee Shuang-chuan (李雙全) had not lost money on the stock market. He had in fact made “a small profit” of about NT$500,000.

No joke. And, no need to for anyone to eat crow. The prosecutors were openly telling a completely different story to the media the day before. It was their mistake.

Cheers

#12

Yes. It was all over the news tonight. Su Tseng-chang even had to field questions from the media. It’s stomach-turning to watch the DPP prove the blue side’s accusations of incompetence.

Maybe the newly formed communications commission can put in place some proper restrictions on the reporting of crimes under investigation. This mistake shouldn’t have been allowed to happen in the first place.

Still, what’s up with the prosecutors office? Why are they always so horny to tell the world all their great evidence long before a trial. (The same thing still happens even when the accused hasn’t committed suicide.)

#13

I have always said that the legal and security system here is incompetent. Even if the rest of the prosecutor’s accusations turn out to be correct, they’re still goofballs. And with goofballs like this, it doesn’t take a 10,000-man-conspiracy to create 319.

Last time I looked, Pan-Blue cops fighting an unarmed lunatic were busy shooting innocent children. So even if the cops are clean, they’re just plain bad at being cops.

#14

So, Mr Lee did not LOSE millions on the stock market, but now he seems to have actually made some money. That does change things a bit.

But still, he took out insurance on his wife, a few days before she died, and he did same thing with first Vietnamese wife, with whom he had two kids and got NT$6 million in insurance after she died from posion snake bite.

He hung himself in red vengeance clothes for ghost comeback, and he wrote suicide note that said the REAL perpetrator of the derailment tried to force the blame on him. So where does TRUTH lie?

Or does TRUTH always LIE?

#15

Not just the incompetence of the cops, which dates from waaaaaaaaaay back, but the fact that the media should have refrained from printing and publicizing the name of the suspect. It’s the incestuous mixing of media and police here that makes things so grim for those accused. Although the suicide is a bit incriminating, and the death of a prior wife as well.

Vorkosigan

#16

[quote=“Vorkosigan”]…Although the suicide is a bit incriminating, and the death of a prior wife as well.
[/quote]

AND the red clothes for revenge in afterlife (IF there is an afterlife, hehe!); and the confession suicide note blaming another man as the real perpetrator of the train derailment who tried to foist the blame onto Lee; and the insurance deal a few days before the event’; and the crocodile tears at the funeral; and the suicide itself.

If he really loved his wife and was blameless, stand up and fight!

He is INvovled. But dead now. Flew the coop.

#17

The man is as guilty as sin. Period. He knew there was a mountain of damning evidence against him and that he would be facing the death penalty. His death is certainly a good thing, though it would have been better if he could have been prevented from taking his own life, brought to trial, convicted and executed by order of the law. Also, it would have been better if his interrogation could have helped the prosecuting authorities identify his accomplices in this despicably evil insurance-scam murder.

What sickens me to the core is the behaviour of those thuggish railway unionists and the PFP politicians who have been so quick to jump on the bandwagon to milk it for maximum self-publicity and mischief-making. Are these people capable of sinking any lower? I suppose what it boils down to is that they consider it entirely unobjectionable to import Vietnamese wives, use them to drop out a couple of brats, then insure them to the hilt and kill them off to collect a nice fat payment from the insurance company. After all, they’re only Southeast Asians, not Taiwanese, and anyway they’re the duly purchased property of the husband so it’s his God-given right to do with them as he pleases.

May there be a specially tormenting level of hell reserved for these people when they die!

#18

Like what??? This case beggars belief and so does the attitude of some people in this thread.

#19

Juba, you’re not a lawyer and it shows!

Believe me, as someone who has donned a wig and gown to act as defence counsel in numerous criminal trials at the Old Bailey and elsewhere, my judgment on this is way, way more reliable than your anti-establishment, anti-anything-that-happens-under-a-DPP-administration, the-working-man’s-word-is-always-to-be-believed-against-that-of-the-toffs bias!

If you’ve not read the reliable accounts of the evidence against the man, I suggest you find a good source and do so. And no, the United Daily News is not what I mean by a good source. If you can manage this and then apply a little reason to consideration of the objective facts, I’m sure that even you will be hard put not to come to a different conclusion than your political leanings prompt you to.

#20

Now the question becomes Omniloquacious, where have you read your reliable accounts. I do not happen to know any British attorneys here in Taiwan who are privy to ROC prosecutor files and have an understanding of how things work here. I would be pleased to meet you as I too was a defense attorney in California.

As for myself, since I have not bothered to contact anybody down in the Pingtung or Kaoshuing District Prosecutors Office I have nothing to add.

take care,
Brian