Taipei-A Taipei District Court judge who served as a prosecutor in the trial of the 2014 Taipei Metro attacker, was found dead in Taichung’s Chiyou Mountain from an apparent hiking accident Wednesday, Taichung City Fire Bureau confirmed that day.
According to local firefighters, Chen Po-chun (陳伯均), a 47-year-old Taipei District Court judge, had set off alone to find a hiking path in Chiyou Mountain on Sunday after the area became shrouded in fog and his family lost their way as they headed to Sancha Campground.
After getting lost, Chen asked his wife and two children to stay put while he scouted ahead. He also instructed them to call search and rescue if he did not return within 30 minutes.
The wife contacted the authorities after Chen failed to return. She and her two children were rescued within a little over an hour and spent the evening in a nearby cabin, before being taken down the mountain on Monday.
The search for the judge on Sunday was impeded by wind and rain brought by Typhoon Muifa, with a full scale search launched on Monday.
Over the next two days, search and rescue personnel located a climbing pole and clothing belonging to Chen less than 50 meters from the spot where they believe he fell.
On Wednesday morning, a larger team of 13 search personnel found Chen’s badly injured body in a bamboo forest 90 meters below that point, Taichung City Fire Bureau said.
A spokesperson for the Taipei District Court said Chen began serving as a judge last year and was well-liked by his colleagues and peers.
Before his judgeship, Chen was the prosecutor in the trial of Cheng Chieh (鄭捷), who was convicted of killing four people in a stabbing spree on the Taipei Metro in 2014.
Cheng was sentenced to death for the attack, and executed on May 10, 2016.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel