The High Court on Thursday resentenced a woman facing the death penalty to life in prison for the murders of her two children, citing the perpetrator’s depression and remorse.

The 31-year-old woman, surnamed Wu (吳), had originally been sentenced to death in November last year by the New Taipei City District Court for the murders of her eight-year-old daughter and six-year-old son.

The initial verdict said that Wu had committed the “extremely cruel and cold-blooded” murders solely due to stress and a dissatisfaction with her personal circumstances, adding that she had failed to show remorse for her crimes.

Wu appealed the district court’s ruling, and it was reversed by the High Court on Thursday.

Wu has been resentenced to life in prison and disfranchisement for life.

The High Court based its decision on Wu’s diagnosis of severe depression, and because she had committed the murders while she was afflicted by tremendous stress.

The court said that Wu has shown remorse for her wrongdoing while in prison.

Although the court took note of “imperfections” in Wu’s personality and mentality, it ruled that she did not exhibit behaviors against humanity, nor did she show antisocial tendencies.

Therefore, the court concluded that it would not be necessary to impose the death penalty on Wu, and suggested that she receive therapy.

The ruling can be appealed to the Supreme Court.

Wu was found guilty of murder for killing her two children in February last year.

The court said that after Wu had an argument with her brother and his wife on the evening of Feb. 13, she drove with her children to a motel in New Taipei City’s Wugu District (五股). She then attempted to suffocate her children with pillows, failing after they fought back.

Two days later, at the same motel, Wu drugged her children with sleeping pills and then killed them by strangling them with a rope.

Wu then texted her ex-husband, the father of the children, bidding him farewell, after which she took sleeping pills, antidepressant drugs and alcohol in an attempt to commit suicide.

Upon receiving the text, Wu’s ex-husband rushed to the motel, where he found the two children dead and Wu alive but lethargic. Wu was rushed to the hospital and treated.

During the trial, Wu confessed to committing the murders, saying she had felt overwhelmed with the burden of caring for two children on her own for the past seven years.