TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A death row inmate who was convicted of a double murder was executed on Thursday.
Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) authorized the execution order for 32-year-old inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), per CNA. The death sentence was carried out via firing squad, marking Taiwan's first execution since President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) took office last May.
According to the verdict, Huang and the victim began dating in 2010. During the relationship, the victim deposited her part-time job earnings into a bank account, which she entrusted Huang to manage.
In July 2013, the two agreed to break up, and Huang was called up for military service on Sept. 17. The day after Huang enlisted, the victim checked her bank account and found that Huang had spent nearly all her NT$200,000 (US$6,000) savings, leaving just over NT$2,000.

She then demanded Huang repay the money. Dissatisfied with her for coming to his home to pursue repayments and disregarding their past relationship, Huang came up with a plan to kill her.
On Oct. 1, 2013, Huang sneaked into the victim's home and strangled her mother when she discovered his intrusion. When the victim returned from work, he bound her, sexually assaulted her, and strangled her to death.
In both the first and second trials, Huang was sentenced to death for crimes including sexual assault, murder, homicide, theft, and trespassing. However, the Supreme Court ruled the second trial had not adequately considered whether Huang’s actions constituted “the most serious” crimes as defined under international human rights covenants and remanded the case to the High Court for retrial.
The Taiwan High Court in its retrial determined that Huang's crimes were clear, upholding the first trial’s decision to sentence him to life imprisonment and permanent deprivation of civil rights for the murder of his ex-girlfriend’s mother. For the murder of his ex-girlfriend following sexual assault, he was sentenced to death.
The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal in July 2017. The court said Huang’s crimes against the victim warranted the death penalty as they met the criteria of “the most serious” crimes under international human rights covenants.
On Sept. 20, the Constitutional Court declared that capital punishment is constitutional. However, the court said its application should be limited to the most serious crimes, be unanimous among a panel of judges, and exempt people with psychosocial disabilities.