Police apologize for rape by officer

Chief of the Peitou Police Precinct Kuo Hsien-chuang (郭顯莊) yesterday apologized to a Taipei woman who was allegedly raped by a policeman under his command.

The officer has received one major demerit and has been charged with sexual assault.

The apology came after the woman, referred to as "A1" to protect her identity, sought help from Taipei City Councilor Lee Hsin (李新) after she had failed to receive a reasonable response from police over the incident.

"I was deeply hurt when one of the police officers told me that I'd better reconcile and become the suspect's sex partner since I had been raped by him already," said A1, sobbing underneath her sunglasses and hiding her face behind a low-lying hat at a press conference held yesterday at the Taipei City Council.

According to Lee, the rape took place Oct. 16 when A1, a newly divorced mother of one, went to a bar in the Peitou District with a high school girlfriend, surnamed Wang, who tried to match her with one of her husband's colleagues, a police officer, also surnamed Wang.

When finishing her final glass of beer -- which A1 highly suspects was drugged -- A1 started to feel dizzy, Lee said. The four people -- A1, officer Wang, Miss Wang and her husband, then headed to a karaoke parlor at around 2am on Oct. 17.

Still drowsy, A1 was taken to a motel at roughly 4am, where officer Wang reportedly raped A1.

A1 did not go to the Wan Fang Municipal Hospital (萬芳醫院) for a post-rape physical checkup until two days later, when the hospital reported the case to the city's Women's Police Station of Taipei (WPST, 女子警察隊).

Lee questioned how the case was handled. "First of all, A1 was not returned to her family but to the Peitou Police Precinct after the interview with WPST," Lee said. "During the seven-hour interview at the precinct, A1 was intimidated by seven or eight male police officers to drop the case and to settle the matter privately or to face the consequences that might affect the careers of her ex-husband and her father," Lee said.

In addition, tapes that might contain substantial evidence as to what had happened at the motel and karaoke parlor mysteriously disappeared.

"The entire process shows that the police lack professionalism and experience in dealing with sexual assault cases," he said. "I'd like to see the Investigation Bureau become involved and the city appoint specialists to provide the victim with professional legal services," he said.

Chiang Hsing-hui (江幸慧), director of the city's Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Prevention Center (家庭暴力暨性侵害防治中心), encouraged victims of sexual assault to report attacks to relevant authorities immediately after the incident takes place.

"Statistics show that only one third of sexual assault victims report to authorities one day after the incident," she said.

Chiang said the center has seen rising numbers of sexual assault cases, with roughly 500 assaults reported in 1998, about 530 in 1999, and 472 as of September this year.