PETALING JAYA: Taiwan prosecutors have urged a court there to impose the death penalty on a man charged with abducting and killing a Malaysian university student in October.
The man, with the surname Liang, 28, has been charged with sexual assault and homicide.
He is alleged to have kidnapped Irene Chung, 24, as she was walking back to her dormitory at the Chang Jung Christian University on Oct 28.
Liang was arrested the following day and police said he confessed to strangling Chung with a rope and dumping her body in neighbouring Kaohsiung.
According to Taiwan Central News Agency, Ciaotou district chief prosecutor Wang Po-tun told a press conference that Liang showed no remorse.
Instead, he said, Liang asked about the severity of the punishment he would face and whether he would be extradited to Malaysia.
Liang, the report said, had a criminal record going back to junior high school.
Wang told newsmen that a psychiatric assessment of Liang found him mentally competent and that he posed a high risk of recidivism, according to the Taiwan CNA report.
Wang said due to the brutal nature of the crime, his office had applied to the Ciaotou District Court to sentence Liang to death.
Prosecutors said that on Sept 30, Liang had attacked another woman near the same location in Tainan’s Gueiren District, but that he fled when she fought back and called for help.
After that incident, Liang searched the internet for tutorials on tying a hangman’s knot, and placed a noose in his car for future use, the report said.
