Reported by Tongming Xie for CNEWS, Taipei
A MediaTek senior engineer, Wang Ching-chieh, died suddenly of myocardial infarction at the Le Méridien Taipei hotel in July last year. His family sued the hotel’s chairman Cai Bo-han and nine other people for delaying medical treatment and causing death by negligence. The Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office believes that since Wang refused to accept medical treatment in the first place, all the suspects including Cai Bo-han will not be prosecuted. Wang’s family applied for a reconsideration of the ruling on October 29. After the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office finally received the criminal supplementary reason for reconsideration, they decided to reinvestigate on November 26.
After Cai Bo-han and other nine people received non-prosecution penalties, Wang’s sister, the consultant of Taipei City Government, filed a reconsideration petition on behalf of her family.
In the 5500-word criminal application form, she expressed her dissatisfaction and unforgiveness towards the prosecutor Huang Yi-fan. She believes that he “neglected the facts which cannot be tolerated by legal principles.” She also questioned that during the interrogation, since the defendant was Cai Bo-han, the chairman of the Le Méridien Taipei hotel, she was often stopped by prosecutor Huang Yi-fan from providing details and more comprehensive explanation during the interrogation. Even the clerk of the court participated in the accusations. There should be video and audio tapes to prove the information above. In addition, they intentionally avoid what they should be asking.
Wang Chih-ya listed out 12 reasons for applying for reconsideration, harshly criticizing the non-prosecution disciplinary citation as “Immature, handicapped and incomplete”. Furthermore, she filed 30 questions including “May I ask Prosecutor Huang Yi-fan, if the defendant had called the ambulance and rescued the victim, the victim would not have died. Thus, it is reasonable to infer that the victim was killed by the defendant. It is such an apparent fact, but the prosecutor Huang Yi-fan still insisted that there is no causal relationship between the defendant and the victim’s death. Had he no conscience?”
Wang Chih-ya claimed that Wang’s death and the Le Méridien Taipei hotel’s failure to rescue him has a definite causation. “The defendant’s behavior was neither rescuing nor sending the victim to the hospital, resulting in death. How can it be said that there is no causal relationship?” Isn’t it clear enough to express that he could not breathe air and has chest tightness? How can it be clearer? Wang already directly said that he couldn’t breathe properly and had chest tightness, and thus he needed to go to the hospital. How dare the prosecutor determine that the defendants cannot judge whether the victim had to be sent to the hospital or not. All of the neglect forced the victim to call for help himself and lied on the sofa for 50 minutes. Not until the last ten minutes, the accused saw Wang was in a coma, did they call the ambulance. By then, he was already unconscious. Based on the facts above, the prosecutor still has the audacity to claim these incidents are not causal.
The family members also accused Huang Yi-fan of failing to perform investigation responsibilities. None of the investigation items requested by the family were approved, and the reasons for non-investigation were not stated in the non-prosecution decision. Doubts include not investigating the place at the scene, not conducting separate interrogation of the defendant, not making the accused do a polygraph test, ignoring the defendant’s general manager Chuan Run-pei’s four-time absence in court, refusing to play the videotape of the scene, and ignoring the victim’s family’s repeated requests to interrogate the defendant why didn’t they call the ambulance within 50 minutes and why did they ask Wang to take 34 stairs when there was an elevator?
It is also mentioned in the Reconsideration Application that “God knows all. Good will be rewarded with good, and evil with evil; if the reward is not forthcoming, it is because the time has not arrived yet.“ A prosecutor cannot violate conscience, the law of nature, the truth, and definitely cannot kill people with public authority. The defendants had to cover up his negligent homicide and their responsibility of death. Therefore, the prosecutor joined hands with the accused and postponed the trial up to half a year, just to make time for the defendants to come up with excuses and have some interrogation drills. Moreover, the defendants lied about Wang’s refusal to go to the hospital, and there was no evidence to prove him wrong. “If the prosecutor is only going to accept the hotel’s testimony, then ask the hotel to disclose all the recordings of that day publicly”, said Wang Chih-ya.
Wang Ching-chieh, a 46-year-old MediaTek engineer, went to swim in the swimming pool of the Le Méridien Taipei hotel on the evening of July 29 last year, but unfortunately died. The victim’s family were heartbroken by the hotel staff’s inaction and indifference, and the fact that they were suspected of causing death by negligence, so the family filed a complaint. Conversely, after the interrogation, the prosecutor believed that the lifeguard and other hotel staff had noticed Wang’s abnormality at the time and indicated that they could assist in seeking medical treatment. It was Wang who refused at the moment and adjusted his breathing back. He was even able to take the initiative and indicate that he was going to the hospital. No one could predict that Wang would faint due to myocardial infarction. Therefore, nine people including Cai Bo-han received a non-prosecution penalty due to the insufficiency of guilt.
Photo credit: CNEWS Press Kits
More CNEWS reports
Don’t let the spirit of the dead be left in the swimming pool! An open letter to the Le Méridien Taipei hotel from the victim family
【With Video】Death at Le Méridien Taipei Hotel “The negligence of the lifeguard” Wang’s family said
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