The mother of a university student has accused police of malfeasance in their handling of an accident two years ago that has left her son severely impaired mentally and physically.
Tsai Shu-cheng (
Tsai said his son, Fang Chung-hsuan (
Witnesses of the crash stopped the driver, Su Wen-chin (
However Tsai said two of the policemen handling the case did not complete police reports but asked other colleagues to do that so as to leave on time.
"The policemen [doing the reports] did not even go to the site where accident took place," the mother said.
The policemen have subsequently been disciplined for malfeasance, but Tsai said she worries the flawed reports hurt her case against the offender.
Su, 23, was given a seven-month sentence for causing the accident by the Taipei District Court and is appealing his conviction to the Taiwan High Court.
Su claimed at the hearing yesterday that he did not run the red light, but instead Fang had. He said he felt sorry for the injured, but he did not think he was at fault in the accident.
On hearing the arguments, Fang's mother angrily condemned Su as a liar and asked the court to have experts from National Chiao Tung University (交通大學) examine police reports from the scene of accident.
The court has yet to approve Tsai's suggestion, which she believes is crucial to seeing that justice is served in her case.
On Tuesday, with the help of New Party Taipei City Councilor Lee Hsin (李新), the devastated mother questioned the integrity of the judicial system at a press conference, suggesting that the High Court is tilting toward the defendant.
She said at the press conference that the court unduly granted the defense's request to have police reports examined by the Central Police University (
Upset with the out-of-court remarks, the High Court responded to the issue at the hearing yesterday. It noted Tsai had agreed in a previous hearing with the defense's motion to allow the police university to examine the records.
The court said that her remarks have caused an unfair misunderstanding of the judicial system.
In response, Tsai apologized for her remarks and said: "I am very anxious and worried that the defendant will get away [with his crime]. I hope the court can sympathize with me, since I am the mother of the victim."
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