A Taichung court has handed down a four-and-a-half-year sentence to a woman who pushed her newborn son from an 11th-floor window, a lighter penalty than prosecutors sought.

• The woman gave birth at her Taichung home in November 2024, then wrapped the baby in a blanket and pushed him out the window; he died from multiple fractures and organ damage after landing in a courtyard garden.
• Prosecutors charged her with murder and asked for 11 to 12.5 years, arguing she abandoned her family, refused to care for the child, and deserved no leniency.
• The citizen judge panel instead convicted her of the lesser crime of infanticide by a birth mother, which carries a much lighter penalty.
• Her defense pointed to heavy debts and financial desperation as grounds for mercy and had pushed for a suspended sentence.
• She denied the charges in court, and the case was heard over three days by Taiwan's mixed panel of professional and lay judges.

Outlook: The verdict can be appealed, and the sizable gap between the prosecution's demand and the sentence makes an appeal likely.