An 80-year-old woman from Taipei’s Songshan District, surnamed Liu, who had raised her severely disabled son single-handedly for more than 50 years, was finally sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison for killing him. The court described the incident as a “tragic burden of long-term caregiving” and unusually referred to the presidential pardon in the ruling.
The Son’s Condition Worsened After COVID
The boy was paralyzed and lost his speech due to complications from vaccinations in childhood. Since then, Liu has been taking care of him day and night. After returning from the hospital after contracting COVID in 2023, she found that her son was also infected and suffering from a high fever.
The elderly Liu also had a broken health condition. Repeated falls, broken bones, multiple stents in her heart. In this situation, she had only one fear in her mind—if she died first, who would look after her son?
She Wanted To Relieve Her Son Of Suffering
On May 12, 2023, when the foreign caregiver of the house went out for a while, she entered her son’s room and closed the door. She put a red envelope with 10,000 New Taiwan dollars (approximately S$420) in his mouth. So that he could “say goodbye” in peace. Then she covered his son’s nose and mouth with a towel and tape.
She sat by his side for a while and waited, crying—until his last breath. The police arrived and confirmed that the boy had died of suffocation.
Liu admitted in court that she made this decision not to suffer for herself but to relieve her son’s future suffering.
Netizens’ reactions
The incident has sparked heated discussions on social media. Many say that only parents of children with special needs can truly understand the depth of such a situation. Some are commenting that life can sometimes be harder than death due to a long illness, so the mother should not be blamed.
Many others believe that after 50 years of self-sacrifice, this mother’s decision was the ultimate example of deep love, although it is legally wrong. Some cited personal experience and said that caring for a child with a complex disease is so difficult that outsiders cannot easily judge.
Many expressed their sympathy and said that this mother who had struggled all her life, will now suffer in prison—this was the most heartbreaking thing.
Court’s Sympathy
The Taipei District Court said that there was no shortage of the son’s clothing, cleanliness, and bedding—which is proof of the mother’s long-term dedicated service.
However, according to the law, she was not eligible for further leniency as she was not yet 80 years old at the time of the incident. That is why the court has requested the President to consider a special pardon. The case is currently under appeal in the High Court.
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