Taiwan: Beheading of Girl Sparks Anger.

After the brutal beheading of a 4-year-old girl in Taiwan. There has been calls on the government to effect a greater use of the death penalty for capital offenses as the island mourns.

The attacker Wang Ching-yu, 33, is said to have grabbed the 4-year-old girl as she and her mother rode on a bike to a subway station in Taipei on Monday. He then decapitated her with a cleaver in broad daylight.

Taiwan has been in shock since Monday when the news broke out.

The suspect pushed away the girl’s mother as she tried to save her daughter. Seven bystanders were also unable to stop the man, reports added. The girl has been identified only by her surname Liu.

“A mother couldn’t protect her child even though she was standing right near her. How can we feel assured that our children will be safe?” asked Lindy Wang, a mother of three.

Witnesses say Wang has a history of drug abuse. He was convicted of drug-related offenses in 2006.

The suspect has also resorted to a mental care hospital for treatments so it appears his killing of the girl was a random attack from a mentally unstable man.

Taiwanese were outraged at the killing as crowds took to the streets in protest. The mob surrounded the killer while he was being led into a police station. Some rained bloody punches on him.

As a security measure, schools were on red alert on Tuesday and police officers were dispatched to a school the assailant was believed to have been headed to when he came across the girl.

The killing was the latest in a string of random attacks on the island and the third against children in the past four years.

Further heightening fears, on Tuesday, a police officer was stabbed in the head by a 28-year-old man after he approached the man to ask him why he was at a train platform with a steak knife. The officer’s injuries were non life-threatening.

Supporters are asking for capital punishment arguing that life sentences are not sufficient to prevent such acts in the future.

Lawmakers are due to review a bill tomorrow, Thursday March, 31.

The said bill would ensure that those convicted of killing children under 12-years old are given the death penalty.