The Taiwanese media reported on Sunday (March 29) that the verdict showed that a female university student with the last name Shih lost her wallet in March 2021 near the Taipei MRT Ximen station. The wallet contained NT$30 in cash, an ID card, a health insurance card, and a driver’s license. Shih went straight to the police station to report the case.
The police checked the surveillance cameras and found a homeless man with the last name Chen. However, when they checked his identity information, they discovered that he had been declared dead four years ago.
The police kept looking for the man, who was about 52 when he left home in May 2010 and started hanging out with people on the street. Because of inheritance issues and the fact that he hasn’t been in touch with his family in a long time, the son has filed for a declaration of death in court.
On May 3, 2017, the Taipei District Court ruled that Chen was dead because he hadn’t been seen or heard from for seven years, and public notice had been sent out.
The prosecution found out the truth and asked the court to remove the death declaration. Chen also testified that he didn’t know his son had asked the court for a death declaration. He was told by the police to make a statement and then said that his son had “died.” After hearing the case, on January 28 last year, the New Taipei District Court decided to take back the death declaration.
Concerning the found wallet, Chen said he found it in March 2021 and threw it away because it didn’t have anything valuable in it.
The judge finally decided that he found other people’s things but didn’t follow the law and sent them to the right place to be claimed or let the owner know. Since he admitted to the crime after committing it, and the woman has no plans to sue him, he was given a fine of 6,000 New Taiwan dollars (about RM 841) and six days of hard labor for the crime of misappropriation of lost property.
