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.
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
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
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
‘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
RSS