Taiwan:
A Taiwanese woman who started the deadliest fire on the island in decades to get back at her boyfriend escaped the death penalty on Friday when a court handed down a life sentence.
Last October’s inferno in the southern city of Kaohsiung raged for hours through several floors of a dilapidated 13-storey apartment building, killing 46 and injuring 41.
Authorities had said the fire started when defendant Huang Ke-ke, 51, left unextinguished frankincense ash on a bench before leaving the building.
Huang was charged in January with murder and arson while prosecutors had her executed.
Prosecutors said she deliberately lit the fire to embarrass her boyfriend, whom she suspected of cheating, and showed no remorse for her actions.
The Kaohsiung District Court on Friday convicted Huang on charges of arson and negligence resulting in death, and sentenced her to life in prison.
“The defendant had no motive to cause harm to other residents in the building…the murder offense did not last because she did not intentionally cause” the deaths, the court said in a statement.
Huang admitted to lighting sandalwood incense to repel mosquitoes. But she gave inconsistent statements about what she did before leaving her room, according to prosecutors.
She initially claimed she threw the incense in a trash can, but later said she couldn’t remember what she’d done.
The fire highlighted concerns about Taiwan’s lax safety standards and exposed the poor living conditions of the elderly in a rapidly aging society.
Prosecutors said they would appeal the ruling.
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