A court yesterday acquitted on grounds of mental illness a woman who had pleaded guilty to assisting a man in a failed attempt to rape her daughter, but assigned the woman to a guardian for three years to ensure that she receives medical treatment.
"We came up with the decision based on the medical report and mental evaluation from the hospital which made us believe that she was paranoid when she tried to help a man rape her own daughter," Judge Kwang Wei (匡偉) of the Taipei District Court's Juvenile Division said in his verdict.
The criminal code requires that, for cases in which either the defendant or the victim is a juvenile, hearings must be held by the juvenile court.
The victim was 16 years old at the time of the alleged incident and is studying at senior high school.
Mental illness, if proven by psychiatric reports, is a defense to all criminal charges in Taiwan, but the criminal courts are empowered to impose guardianships or psychiatric treatment for defendants who are acquitted after relying on this defense.
The guardian will accompany the defendant, surnamed Twu, each day for the next three years.
The verdict stated that in March this year Twu helped a man surnamed Lee try to rape her daughter by taking off her daughter's clothes while the teenager was asleep.
It said that Lee's attempt failed because neighbors called the police after they heard sounds of fighting and an argument between Twu, her daughter and Lee. Lee and Twu were arrested after the police arrived.
Lee was an acquaintance of the girl. He was interested in dating her but his requests had been denied many times. He first met the girl's mother when he visited her home in June last year.
Twu, whom the judge described as a religious fanatic, believed that Lee and her daughter were meant to be a couple and that they should have sex right away because it was "God's will." Lee, the judge said, had immediately agreed with the idea.
Twu told the court that she had urged Lee to marry her daughter.
"There's an eternal relationship between Lee and my daughter. That's why I strongly suggested my daughter and Lee become husband and wife as soon as possible. I was actually following God's will," Twu, who claims to be a member of the Mormon Church, said in her statement to the court.
The judge said that Twu began to persuade her daughter this February to have sex with Lee and the girl finally decided to leave home and stay at a friend's place.
The girl returned home in March but Twu then decided to work with Lee to have him rape her daughter, the decision said.
Lee's trial for attempted rape is separate from Twu's.
The court also ruled that the girl will be settled at an after-care center or a foster home until her mother's three-year guardianship is complete.
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