Man wins divorce from wife 'too shy' to sleep with him

A Tainan court has granted a man's request for divorce because his wife was "too shy" to consummate their marriage, a newspaper said yesterday.

The man surnamed Chen (陳), a 38-year-old teacher from Tainan County was introduced to a woman surnamed Lin (林), 29, also a teacher, by a matchmaker.

After the couple dated for three months, they married a year ago, but Lin refused to consummate the marriage, the Chinese-language daily China Times reported.

On the wedding night, Lin slept fully dressed and wrapped with a quilt, the daily said, without citing any sources.

When Chen tried to sleep with her, the report said, she pushed him away shouting: "You are ridiculous!"

The next morning Lin returned to her mother's home saying she was ill, and would not live with her husband again, the paper said.

Through the matchmaker's mediation, Lin signed a contract agreeing to consummate the marriage but only for the purpose of procreation, and demanded to sleep separately.

However, she did not live up to the pledge, the paper said.

In June, Chen filed for divorce with the Tainan District Court. Lin contested the divorce, claiming that she refused to consummate the marriage on the wedding night because she was too tired and was ill.

But the judge said it was strange for Lin to refuse to consummate the marriage for one year, so he granted the divorce on Saturday and ruled that Lin must compensate Chen NT$300,000 for buying an apartment, giving Lin's family a dowry and losing face because she did not consummate the marriage.