Girl, three, decapitated on a Taiwan street in front of her mother
A three-year-old girl was wrenched from her mother and decapitated with a meat cleaver in a Taipei street in a random and unprovoked attack.
A 33-year-old man with a history of drug problems and mental illness allegedly grabbed the girl from her mother as they were near a subway station in the Taiwan capital around midday on Monday.
The man, who was not known to mother or child, then allegedly used a meat cleaver to cut the girl's head off in the middle of the street, Apple Daily reports.
CCTV footage captured of the street shows the girl riding along beside her mother who is pushing a pram and sometimes jogging along beside her daughter.
The mother told local media she thought the man was going to push her daughter, nicknamed "Little Lamp" by her parents, on her bike along the street.
Instead, the man identified as Wang Jingyu Liu Tong, allegedly pulled out the large knife and brought it down on the little girl's neck.
The mother tried to stop Mr Wang but she was not strong enough.
A number of people nearby intervened to subdue the man until police arrived.
He was arrested and taken to a nearby police station, which was soon surrounded by a mob of people – some reportedly bringing baseball bats.
When police brought Mr Wang to the street the angry crowd rushed the suspect, beating and throwing projectiles at him.
Police were forced to take the man back into the police station away from the mob.
Taiwan's state-run Central News Agency reports Mr Wang has a history of mental illness and run-ins with the law.
News break – March 29
