Suspect In Beheading Death Of 4-Year-Old In Taiwan Beaten By Mob, Suffers Mental Illness

As a young mother grieves the shocking beheading death of her 4-year-old daughter, nicknamed “Little Lantern,” details are emerging about the man who killed her Monday in broad daylight.

The beheading suspect has been identified as Wang Ching-yu, 33, NBC News reported. The girl has only been identified by her surname, Liu. Wang had been arrested years ago on drug charges, and according to his family, suffered from mental illness.

Wang is unemployed and lives off his family’s income in Taiwan, according to Asia One. He also lives nearby the scene of the grisly crime in Taipei, Taiwan.

At about 11 a.m. Monday, the child was riding her bike near a subway station with her mother close by — they were headed to have lunch with family. A man then emerged from behind the little girl, and at first, her mother thought he was there to help her “ride up a hill.”

Taiwan beheading suspect beaten by angry mob https://t.co/eF7YdsQvIX pic.twitter.com/PCGbMb5hEC

— Hindustan Times (@htTweets) March 29, 2016

Instead, he started to stab her several times with a cleaver. Yang Kun-ming, with the Taipei City Police Department, said Wang “slashed the girl’s neck,” beheading her.

“Her mother was next to her when this occurred, and she struggled with the suspect to try to stop him. But the suspect was too strong and she could not stop him,” he said. “The mother screamed for help and passersby rushed over to subdue the suspect, but it was too late. The child already died.”

According to Agence France-Presse, seven bystanders tried to stop the beheading. Later, the grieving mother described the scene to reporters.

“The first thing I did was grab hold of the man, but I wasn’t able to stop him. All I could do was hold him and stop him from escaping, while calling for help.”

Before the beheading, Wang allegedly bought the cleaver that morning and then wandered around the metro station in the city, which is the capital of Taiwan. Surveillance footage taken outside a restaurant captured him pacing down the street, reportedly looking agitated.

Since the beheading stunned Taiwan and the world, the police have probed the suspect’s personal life and uncovered disturbing details. According to Focus Taiwan, Wang was arrested in 2006 for possessing amphetamine, but hadn’t been caught with drugs since.

Between October, 2010, and October, 2014, he was admitted to a hospital for treatment after fighting with his family as a result of an unspecified mental illness. In 2014, he spent a night in the psychiatric branch of Taipei City Hospital; officials there hadn’t had time to diagnose him.

Taiwan beheading suspect beaten by angry mob https://t.co/VtdbkAOHm2 pic.twitter.com/45MaecCffK

— The Straits Times (@straits_times) March 29, 2016

After the beheading, his father told police that his son’s mental illness has worsened in the past few years. He reportedly suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder and wiped his front gate with a cloth dozens of times a day. He didn’t know how to handle his son’s symptoms, and so let them go untreated.

Taiwan police on Monday searched Wang’s home and uncovered 29 notebooks whose contents suggest the young man had a disturbed mind.

As he was interrogated by police Monday, video captured by the media in Taiwan revealed a mob of angry people gathered outside the police station. As he was transferred to the prosecutor’s office for further questioning, bystanders shouted abuse and beat him; he reportedly begged the crowd to stop.

Meanwhile, the beheading has led Taiwan to debate the death penalty. The country suspended capital punishment for five years and resumed it in 2010, and there has since been calls to abolish it permanently.

Monday’s beheading, which is the second child killing in Taipei in less than a year, has led Taiwan’s parliament to consider a bill that would ensure child killers get the death penalty and those who are mentally ill spend life in prison.

Meanwhile, “Little Lantern’s” mother is begging her country to stop this debate, as no law will keep “dangerous people from the street.”

“If you are concerned about us or have sympathy, please respect us… I don’t wish to see such discussions at the time being … I hope our children and grandchildren will never see this happen ever again.”

[Photo by Chiang Ying-ying/AP]