A man in Changhua County, Taiwan, was back in trouble less than six months after being released from prison, allegedly committing a string of offences including theft, intimidation, assault and property damage.
The Lin-surnamed man was linked to a total of 12 cases, including five theft offences, two intimidation cases and two property damage offences, according to court documents. His actions also included allegedly stealing an ATM card and withdrawing NT$14,900 (about RM2,000).
Court documents said Lin had previous convictions involving theft, domestic violence and fraud. He completed his previous prison sentence and was released on Jan 4 this year, but allegedly resumed offending about a month later.
In one incident, Lin allegedly targeted vehicles parked along the roadside, stealing wallets, loose change and jackets. In April, he was allegedly caught rummaging through a lorry by its owner and responded by assaulting the man. He was also accused of breaking into a residence with a knife to commit theft.
The case took an even more disturbing turn on Feb 21, when Lin allegedly confronted his elderly mother while holding a kitchen knife and threatened: “I’m going to kill you and the dog you raised.”
The following day, he allegedly damaged the garage’s metal gate, cabinets and living-room windows before sending threatening text messages to his mother. Among the messages were threats to “blow up this house” and “cut you all”, leaving his mother living in prolonged fear, according to the judgment.
The Changhua District Court sentenced Lin to 120 days’ detention for offences including property damage and intimidation, with the sentence convertible to a fine. He was also sentenced to two months in prison for assault and seven months for aggravated theft.
Prosecutors appealed, arguing that Lin had reoffended shortly after completing his previous sentence and should have received an enhanced sentence under Taiwan’s repeat-offender provisions.
However, the Taichung High Court recently dismissed the prosecution’s appeal, ruling that the lower court had already taken Lin’s extensive criminal record and character into account when determining his sentence.
The appeals court said imposing an additional enhancement under the repeat-offender provisions would amount to evaluating the same factor twice, contrary to the legal principle prohibiting repeated evaluation. It therefore found no error in the original sentence and the ruling is now final.
