The Taiwan High Court yesterday handed 29-year-old Justin Lee (李宗瑞) the maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for a string of sexual assaults and for filming sex acts without consent.
Lee was also ordered to compensate the victims a total of NT$27.75 million (US$926,000).
He appeared in court for the ruling, which can be appealed with the Supreme Court.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Lee is from a wealthy family. His father, Lee Yueh-tsang (李岳蒼), was a board member of Yuanta Financial Holding Co (元大金控) and a director at Yuanta Securities Co (元大寶來證券), but resigned after his son became embroiled in the scandal.
The 29-year-old was initially accused of date-raping 28 women he picked up at nightclubs around Taipei since 2009.
Most of the women were incapacitated to varying degrees after consuming drinks that officials said Lee laced with date-rape drugs.
In September last year, the Taipei District Court found him guilty of raping nine women and filming sex acts with 17 women without their consent.
Lee has been detained since August 2012 and has maintained that he is innocent of the charges.
He said that his picking up women for consensual sex was a “normal aspect of Taipei’s nightclub culture.”
Media reports said the 30-year jail term for Lee is an unusually heavy sentence for sexual assault crimes in Taiwan.
Witnesses said Lee was shaken upon hearing the ruling, describing him as glaring, with his mouth open in “an expression of disbelief.”
In the first ruling on Lee’s case in September last year, the Taipei District Court handed him a combined jail term of 22 years and four months and ordered that he pay NT$14.25 million in compensation.
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