TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taiwan Supreme Court on Tuesday (Dec. 14) sentenced two men, surnamed Tsai (蔡) and Pan (潘), to 13 years in prison for causing another man, surnamed Hsieh (謝), to fall from the hood of Tsai’s car in 2019 and sustain injuries that later led to his death, CNA reported.

The sentencing document said Hsieh had been married to a woman, surnamed Chang (張), for about 20 years when the accident happened. The couple’s relationship had gone south, but they did not divorce. The wife eventually moved out to live with Pan, her new sweetheart.

Through a friend, the husband scheduled a meeting with his wife in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District on Feb. 2, 2019. Chang went with Pan in their friend Tsai’s car.

According to the court document, Hsieh asked his wife to get out of the car to talk, which Chang ignored. As Tsai’s car was pulling out, Hsieh jumped onto the hood and held on to the frame of the windshield.

After hanging in this precarious manner for 10.9 kilometers, Hsieh grew physically tired and fell off the car. He later died of an intracranial hemorrhage at the hospital, the report said.

After conducting an investigation into the case, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office held Tsai and Pan responsible and charged them with homicide. The prosecutor's office said the two men knew Hsieh could get killed if he fell, but they still did not stop the car.

As Hsieh’s wife repeatedly asked them to decelerate, and as she was not in a position to control the car, she was not charged with a crime, the office added.

The Taoyuan District Court held that though Tsai and Pan did not know Hsieh, they used various means, such as speeding, zigzagging, and slamming on the brakes, to cause Hsieh to fall. The court sentenced Pan to 13 years in prison and Tsai to 13 years and two months.

Pan did not appeal his sentence, while Tsai appealed his, which the Supreme Court rejected on Tuesday.