A Taiwanese man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for letting his sick mother starve to death and her body to become infested with maggots.<\/p>\n
Chang Chih-chiang, 36, was convicted and sentenced on Wednesday on charges of abandoning his mother, resulting in her death, the high court said. He can appeal the ruling.<\/p>\n
The case came to light after Chang’s wife contacted the police in August last year when she found her diabetic, bedridden mother-in-law dead in their apartment in northern Taiwan.<\/p>\n
When officers arrived they discovered the body, which weighed less than 30 kilogrammes (66 pounds), infested with maggots in a room littered with trash.<\/p>\n
The coroner estimated that the 53-year-old had been dead for more than a week, and that she had not had any food for at least five days prior to her death.<\/p>\n
Local media have reported that Chang liked to spend his time playing computer games at Internet caf\u00e9s, and that he ignored his sick mother even though they lived together.<\/p>\n
Cases of abuse and abandonment of senior citizens have been on the rise in Taiwan in recent years, prompting lawmakers to propose a bill to jail adults who fail to look after their elderly parents.<\/p>\n
People aged 65 and over account for 10.7 percent of Taiwan’s population of 23 million, the latest census showed, above the 7.0 percent level at which a society is defined as “ageing” by the World Health Organisation.<\/p>\n
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