Taiwan executes man for 2014 subway stabbing spree

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Taiwan has executed a man convicted of killing four people in a subway stabbing spree two years ago, an attack that strengthened support for the death penalty on the island, where violent crime is rare.

Cheng Chieh, 23, was executed Tuesday night, the Ministry of Justice said in a statement on its website. It did not mention what method was used, but said he was sedated before the execution.

Taiwan’s official Central News Agency said that Cheng was shot to death and that three gunshots were heard at the detention centre, located outside the capital, Taipei.

Cheng’s two-minute stabbing spree on a subway train during rush hour in Taipei on May 21, 2014, left four people dead and 22 injured. The attack shocked the high-tech island, where private gun ownership is largely banned and crime levels are relatively low.

Although he later apologized to the victims and showed remorse for his crime, Cheng, who was a university student at the time of the attack, gave no explanation for the stabbing spree other than a Facebook posting in which he said he “wanted to do something big.”

Amid criticism from death penalty opponents, the Ministry of Justice said the death sentence was necessary because of the severity of the crime and public demands to uphold social justice.

Despite a past moratorium on executions, the subway killings, along with an attack this past March in which a 3-year-old girl was decapitated in front of her mother in Taipei, have helped harden public opinion in favour of the death penalty, which surveys show nine out of 10 Taiwanese now support.