The Supreme Court has decided to review the four-year prison term the Taiwan High Court imposed on former New Party legislator Elmer Feng (馮滬祥) for sexually assaulting his Filipina house-keeper after Feng submitted a statement from forensic expert Henry Lee (李昌鈺).
Feng told reporters yesterday that because Lee had provided a forensic statement to the Taiwan High Court and the Supreme Court that raised questions about two pieces of underwear with his semen on them, the Supreme Court decided to review his sentence.
The Filipina victim had provided the courts with the underpants she wore after she was raped and the pair she wore after she took a shower six hours after the rape.
Feng said that Lee had questions about the semen on the underwear because the spots looked similar and were lake-shaped, rather than strip-shaped, leading Lee to ask whether the spots were the result of discharge from the woman's vagina or had been smeared on by hand.
A man produces around 3cc to 5cc of semen by a single ejaculation, Lee said in his statement, adding that it would be suspicious if the spots of semen on the two pieces of underwear totalled more than 5cc.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court said that "the semen on the underwear should be an arguable point and one which was in favor of the defendant Feng, but the Taiwan High Court failed to resolve the matter."
The Taiwan High Court ruled last August that the former lawmaker was guilty because the DNA collected from sperm taken from the housekeeper's vagina and her underwear matched that of Feng.
Feng said yesterday he was glad the Supreme Court was giving him a chance to prove his innocence and restore his reputation.
"I appreciate Dr. Lee's help with my lawsuit. I obtained his help after a couple of old friends helped me to contact him," Feng said.
He said his former housekeeper had framed him by taking semen from a condom he had used when having intercourse with his wife.
Feng was accused in February 2004 of raping his housekeeper, identified only as Rose, in November 2003.
After the scandal erupted, Feng paid Rose NT$800,000 and sent her back to the Philippines. Rose's supporters said the cash was hush money.
Auckland rang in 2026 with a downtown fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, making it the first major city to greet the new year at a celebration dampened by rain, while crowds in Taipei braved the elements to watch Taipei 101’s display. South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks struck midnight in Auckland, with a population of 1.7 million, 18 hours before the famous ball was to drop in New York’s Times Square. The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from the 240m Sky Tower. Smaller community events were canceled across New Zealand’s
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it is closely monitoring developments in Venezuela, and would continue to cooperate with democratic allies and work together for regional and global security, stability, and prosperity. The remarks came after the US on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was later flown to New York along with his wife. The pair face US charges related to drug trafficking and alleged cooperation with gangs designated as terrorist organizations. Maduro has denied the allegations. The ministry said that it is closely monitoring the political and economic situation
‘SLICING METHOD’: In the event of a blockade, the China Coast Guard would intercept Taiwanese ships while its navy would seek to deter foreign intervention China’s military drills around Taiwan this week signaled potential strategies to cut the nation off from energy supplies and foreign military assistance, a US think tank report said. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted what it called “Justice Mission 2025” exercises from Monday to Tuesday in five maritime zones and airspace around Taiwan, calling them a warning to “Taiwanese independence” forces. In a report released on Wednesday, the Institute for the Study of War said the exercises effectively simulated blocking shipping routes to major port cities, including Kaohsiung, Keelung and Hualien. Taiwan would be highly vulnerable under such a blockade, because it
UNRELENTING: China attempted cyberattacks on Taiwan’s critical infrastructure 2.63 million times per day last year, up from 1.23 million in 2023, the NSB said China’s cyberarmy has long engaged in cyberattacks against Taiwan’s critical infrastructure, employing diverse and evolving tactics, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday, adding that cyberattacks on critical energy infrastructure last year increased 10-fold compared with the previous year. The NSB yesterday released a report titled Analysis on China’s Cyber Threats to Taiwan’s Critical Infrastructure in 2025, outlining the number of cyberattacks, major tactics and hacker groups. Taiwan’s national intelligence community identified a large number of cybersecurity incidents last year, the bureau said in a statement. China’s cyberarmy last year launched an average of 2.63 million intrusion attempts per day targeting Taiwan’s critical
RSS